Colombia’s coalition of moderate election candidates has all but fallen apart.
Social democratic candidate Jorge Robledo said he lost faith in his liberal counterpart Alejandro Gaviria on Thursday.
The latest crisis comes a little more than two weeks before supporters of the Center Hope Coalition elect their presidential candidate.
Liberal candidate Ingrid Betancourt left the coalition in January over Gaviria’s alleged “anything goes” strategy.
Colombia’s moderate election candidates in crisis
Primary candidates Sergio Fajardo, Juan Manuel Galan and Carlos Amaya tried to stay out of the fight between Robledo and Gaviria.
The crisis followed meetings between the liberal candidate and two of Colombia’s most powerful electoral barons, Radical Change director German Vargas and Liberal Party director Cesar Gaviria.
According to Robledo, the meetings violated the candidates’ agreement to shun support from coalition parties.
Senator Jorge Robledo
Gaviria rejected his rival’s objections. “If they’re going to tell me who to talk to, we’re screwed,” he told Caracol Radio on Friday.
The candidates of the Center Hope Coalition have been behind their main rival in the election race, progressive opposition Senator Gustavo Petro.
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Other candidates threaten the moderates’ chances for a run-off ticket in the first round of the presidential election in May.
Gaviria believes that the Center Hope Coalition needs support from outside the coalition to stand a chance in the first round in May.
Robledo and Betancourt believe that a coalition with the notoriously corrupt coalition parties would harm the chances of the anti-corruption opposition coalition.
The regular infighting has become a major threat to the Center Hope coalition and its ability to put their combined weight behind a single candidate after the primary.