Gustavo Petro Bogotá's new Mayor

This last weekend of October, regional elections took place in Colombia to elect governors, mayors, councils, assemblies and local action boards. 

To make sure election day ran as smoothly as possible, a “dry law” was implemented, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages and the possession of weapons. 

The measure included the closing of international land and sea borders, and the deployment of 350,000 members of the armed forces.

Although the right to vote was exercised throughout the country, the Bogotá election generated the greatest expectation since its citizens went to the polls during one of the capital city's biggest institutional crises, due to the arrest of former mayor Samuel Moreno and his alleged participation in contract irregularities in the expansion of the Transmilenio, Bogotá’s bus rapid transit.

According to newspaper El Tiempo, whoever takes over the destiny of the bogotanos faces a series of challenges, like mobility, management of the capital city's economy, and security.

Gustavo Petro is Bogota's elected mayor, giving continuity to center-left policies. Photo by Jimmy_jazz_ataca on Flickr (CC-BY NC 2.0).

With polling stations closed, bogotanos gave Gustavo Petro [es] the victory. 

Petro beat strong opponents like Gina Parody and Enrique Peñalosa, whose campaigns had been supported by important public figures like former Bogotá Mayor and former presidential candidate Antanas Mockus, and former President Álvaro Uribe, respectively.

Once again citizens of Colombia's capital confirmed their preference for center-left policies– particularly those from the middle-lower class stratus. 

This will result in 12 uninterrupted years of administrations governing under this political idology.

As expected, the blogosphere generated expectations and even a sense of uncertainty about Bogotá's future facing these elections. 

Bogotá voters can use this month's mayoral election to choose between two futures: One in which the gap in quality of life between the rich minority and poor majority will continue widening; in which traffic jams, pollution and crime will worsen; in which individual interests will take priority over the collective and quality of life for the majority will decline. 

And a second future in which the interests of the majority receive priority and Bogotanos confront problems with a common civic spirit.

Once it was announced that Petro had won the election, Mike’s Bogota Blog expressed certain hopes for the elected mayor:

As a candidate, Petro made some unpopular (but necessary) proposals, such as addressing Bogotá's traffic jams by charging drivers a congestion tax. 

But he also made populist gestures, such as promising free water for the poor….

Let's hope that as mayor his pragmatic side wins out over his ideological one. 

As a politician who speaks his mind and whose prospects for higher office are in any case limited, perhaps Petro will be willing to make courageous, unpopular decisions in the mold of London Mayor ‘Red' Ken Livingstone.