Colombia elects Gustavo Petro as first-ever left-leaning president

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Colombia elected Gustavo Petro as president on Sunday, marking the first time the country has put an openly leftist politician in the nation's highest office, after he promised several progressive changes including free university tuition and pension reforms.

"What is coming here is real change, real change. That is what we're committing our lives to," he told an audience of supporters.

The former member of the M-19 guerrila movement won 50.5 per cent of the vote against his opponent, construction magnate Rodolfo Hernandez, with an unexpectedly wide margin of just under 720,000 votes. The two had been technically tied in polling ahead of the vote.