Presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo declared that he is likely to accept Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus’ offer of a vice-presidential role in his campaign.
The two candidates made the announcement together at a meeting at one of Fajardo’s campaign sites in Bogota.
The public announcement followed an Easter weekend letter exchange between the two candidates, with Mockus proposing the alliance and Fajardo indicating that he would most likely accept.
The alliance is not yet entirely official, as Fajardo has asked Mockus for a week’s time to work out any differences in the candidates’ campaign platforms, and also to consider how to structurally join the two campaigns’ staffs together.
Fajardo said that he would remain a presidential candidate in the event that the alliance did not work out.
But the emotional tenor of the announcement belied its as yet unofficial nature. A crying Mockus declared that he and Fajardo are “from the same stock,” while Fajardo vowed that the two candidates would “outline a path together.”
In an interview with El Tiempo, Fajardo highlighted the two candidates’ shared academic background, as well as their commitments to root out corruption in the national government, which he said was at an all-time high. He also noted that regional leaders of his Compromiso Ciudadano party had expressed their unanimous support for the alliance.
The letters exchanged by the candidates over the weekend regarding the alliance can be read here.