Colombia presidential election winner certified

Colombia's national register officially certified Thursday Gustavo Petro and his running mate Francia Marquez are the victors of Sunday's presidential election.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) declared the election on Monday after completing the vote count. The election also gave Colombia for the first time a Black politician as vice president — Francia Márquez, a lawyer and environmental leader whose opposition to illegal mining resulted in threats and a grenade attack in 2019.

Petro has said he will govern for the "nobodies," meaning minorities and the poor, the latter making up 39% of the population, according to official figures from 2021. In his first 100 days in office, Petro said, he aims to implement an emergency plan against hunger, introduce a "living income" for mothers who are heads of households and cancel the student loans of 10,000 people.