Most Colombians consider themselves central, but vote for candidates from the left or right

On April 13, the results of the Political Culture Survey of the National Administrative Department of Statistics - Dane - came out and it became clear that in the country there is no relationship between the intention to vote and the ideological position in which citizens are perceived.

It is important to mention that it takes place every two years and consulted 71,986 people throughout the national territory. Contrary to those seen in the consultations of March 13, in which the Historical Pact, a movement representing the left, received 5.8 million votes; the Team for Colombia, from the right and traditional movements, 4.14 million votes; and the Esperanza Center Coalition, just 2.28 million; the results showed that the majority of Colombians consider themselves to be central.

In addition, if the results of the Dane are compared with the latest polls on voting intentionality, the difference between voting and the perception of Colombians is once again evident. For example, the results of Infometrika's Meta-Analysis firm, which bring together the results of all the electoral studies that have been known in recent weeks, show that Petro has a 35.7% chance of becoming the next president of Colombia, surpassing 'Fico' Gutiérrez, whom they rate with 22.9 per cent.

According to Semana Magazine, which interviewed Yann Basset, professor at the Universidad del Rosario, this dichotomy arises for several reasons, including the story behind the references of the left and right. After years of armed conflict, guerrillas are considered left-wing, and paramilitary action is considered right-wing. Therefore, although the thoughts of Colombians are more associated with one ideological side than the other, they do not want to be stigmatized. Because of the above, calling itself a center is the best option.

Even the candidates themselves have taken it as the best way to base their campaigns on strategies that keep them from being related to ideological extremes. On the one hand, Gustavo Petro, in an interview he gave to El Tiempo, said: “I no longer divide politics between left and right, as was done in the 20th century (...) Politics in the 21st century is crossed by another different concern and two major fields that are the politics of life and that of death.”

On the other hand, Federico Gutiérrez, from the beginning of his campaign, made it clear that “it's not about the right, left or center; it's about results.” This position was based on having been the mayor of Medellin and maintaining alliances with other former regional and local leaders. And, in the case of Sergio Fajardo, he has always mentioned that he does not identify with extremes “because Colombia has been condemned to believe that they are the only options; and that is not the case”.

Another reason that answers the differences, according to political scientist Natalia Hernández, is related to the problem of taking positions on certain issues that touch the country and are controversial.

“According to Dane, those who consider themselves to be the center are half of all Colombians, and abstentionism in Colombia is around 50%, that is, there may be a correlation between the absence of representation, self-designation of center and abstention,” Hernández explained to Semana Magazine.

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