The time has come to be a constituent power, transformative and vigilant
Petro claims he wants to preserve the 1991 Constitution while adding chapters on legislative acts and political system reform to eliminate corruption. Cepeda leads in first-round polls with 38% support but trails in second-round matchups against right-wing candidates, per latest Guarumo survey.
- Petro proposes adding two chapters to the 1991 Constitution, not replacing it entirely
- Cepeda leads first-round polling at 38%, but trails Valencia 40.1% to 44.6% in Guarumo's second-round scenario
- Cepeda faces electoral investigation for exceeding private financing caps in October 2025 primary
- Public media system agrees to hold three televised debates before May 31 first round
President Petro formally launches campaign for a National Constituent Assembly on May Day, proposing to add two chapters to the 1991 Constitution rather than fully reform it. Official candidate Iván Cepeda echoes the constitutional reform message while campaigning in Bogotá.
On May Day in Medellín, President Gustavo Petro stood before a crowd in the Parque de las Luces and formally launched his campaign for a National Constituent Assembly—a project he has circled around for months but now made official. This is his last Labor Day speech as president, and he used it to clarify what he actually wants: not a wholesale rewriting of Colombia's 1991 Constitution, but the addition of two new chapters. One would enshrine legislative acts that make social rights real. The other would reform the political system itself, he said, to corner corruption once and for all. He plans to gather five million signatures by July 20 and deliver them to the next Congress after the May and June elections.
Petro's framing matters because the constituent assembly idea has drawn fierce criticism from centrists and the right, who see it as a threat to institutional stability. By insisting he is not dismantling the existing charter but augmenting it, he is trying to defang the controversy. He also took aim at television media, which he accused of exaggerating the health crisis, and at his political opponents who have challenged his signature reforms—the pension overhaul, the labor law, the 23 percent minimum wage increase. He promised that if economic conditions worsen, the government will raise wages again to protect workers' purchasing power. He did not name his chosen successor, Senator Iván Cepeda, but the signal was unmistakable: he hopes progressive mandates continue in Colombia.
Cepeda, meanwhile, led a massive rally in central Bogotá and declared that "the time has come to be a constituent power, which is at once transformative and vigilant." It was a nod to Petro's constitutional project, though Cepeda has previously said it is not his priority. The senator framed the election as a binary choice between the far right—led by former president Álvaro Uribe and represented by candidates Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia—and the progressive forces. He defended Petro's pension reform against Valencia's legal challenges and celebrated the minimum wage increase as a "vital salary." Cepeda claimed this was his hundredth public rally and said he expects to win the first round outright on May 31, avoiding a June runoff. He also invoked Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" to speak of liberation from mental slavery and historical inequality.
The latest polling, from Guarumo, shows Cepeda leading the first round with 38 percent, followed by De la Espriella at 23 percent and Valencia at 22.8 percent. But the survey diverges from most others in the second-round scenarios: it has Valencia defeating Cepeda 44.6 to 40.1 percent, and Cepeda narrowly edging De la Espriella 40.6 to 40.4 percent. Other recent polls have given Cepeda the advantage in runoffs as well. The survey interviewed 4,680 adults across 74 cities and municipalities, with regional distribution weighted toward the southern and eastern zones.
Centrist candidate Sergio Fajardo called Petro's constituent assembly announcement "extremely serious" and warned that if the opposition wins, it will be the opening move in social confrontation unlike anything Colombia has seen. Fajardo had announced his own signature-gathering campaign in early April, but to defend the existing Constitution rather than change it. Álvaro Uribe, the former president and leader of the Democratic Center party, tweeted that the constituent assembly would "wither the private sector" and impose state monopolies, particularly in health, which he characterized as corrupt and inefficient.
Meanwhile, the National Electoral Council opened a preliminary investigation into Cepeda for alleged irregularities in his campaign for the October 2025 Pacto Histórico primary. According to complaints, he exceeded the 10 percent cap on private financing by accepting 609 million pesos from the firm Samat Publicidad and 116 million more from its legal representative. Cepeda is the only leading candidate keeping his campaign finances secret on the official CNE platform, Cuentas Claras.
On the debate front, Colombia's public media system agreed to hold three televised presidential debates before the first round, each up to sixty minutes long, as required by electoral law. The announcement came after seven candidates—including Fajardo, Claudia López, and others—formally requested the forums. But the leading contenders have largely avoided such confrontations. Cepeda has sidestepped debates, citing distrust of traditional media and the establishment. De la Espriella and Valencia have expressed willingness but have not shown up, citing Cepeda's absence. The RTVC invitation opens a door for the main candidates to face each other on camera and present their visions to the public, though whether they will walk through it remains uncertain.
Notable Quotes
The time has come to be a constituent power, which is at once transformative and vigilant.— Iván Cepeda, May Day rally in Bogotá
We do not need to change the 1991 Constitution. What we want is to change two chapters: one on legislative acts that make Colombia's rights real, and another on political system reform that definitively corners corruption.— President Gustavo Petro, May Day speech in Medellín
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Petro keep insisting he's not reforming the Constitution when he's clearly trying to reshape it?
Because the word "reform" carries weight in Colombia. A full constitutional rewrite sounds revolutionary, destabilizing. By saying he's just adding chapters, he's trying to make it sound surgical, technical—like he's not overturning the rules but updating them. It's a rhetorical move to make the thing less frightening.
But does anyone actually believe that distinction?
The right certainly doesn't. Uribe sees through it immediately. But for Petro's base—workers, the left—the framing works because it signals respect for what came before while promising real change. It's a way of saying: we're not destroying, we're building.
Cepeda seems to be running on Petro's record rather than his own ideas. Is that a strength or a weakness?
Both. It's a strength because Petro is popular with the left and Cepeda inherits that energy. It's a weakness because if something goes wrong—if the economy tanks, if the health system doesn't improve—Cepeda owns it too. He's tethered to Petro's outcomes.
The Guarumo poll shows him losing to Valencia in a runoff. How worried should he be?
Worried enough to pay attention, but not panicked. Most other polls show him winning second-round matchups. One outlier doesn't overturn the trend. But it does suggest that if the race tightens, if turnout shifts, Valencia could be dangerous. She's the establishment right, and some voters might see her as a safer choice than either the left or the far right.
What about the campaign finance investigation? Does that hurt him?
It's a wound, but not fatal—not yet. It raises questions about transparency and whether he's playing by the rules he claims to defend. But it's also technical, bureaucratic. It won't move voters the way a corruption scandal would. Still, it's a vulnerability his opponents will exploit.