Colombia’s capital city, Bogota, elected its first woman and openly lesbian mayor in a Sunday election.
Claudia López is a member of Colombia’s Green Alliance party. She scored over 1.1 million votes, or about 35 percent of the votes. She describes herself as “incorruptible.”
López’s win marks an important milestone in a region where LGBTQ people still face harassment and discrimination. In Colombia, the mayor of Bogota is the second most important politician in the country after the president.
A central part of López’s platform was the promise to advance equal rights for minority communities.
“This is the day of the woman,” she told an overjoyed crowd. “We knew that only by uniting could we win. We did that. We united, we won and we made history!”
Meet Claudia López, Bogotá's first female and openly gay mayor.
The position is considered the country's top job after the president pic.twitter.com/wU8Ht2DBTz
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) October 29, 2019
López is a former journalist and senator who has long fought against right-wing politicians and corruption in the country. As mayor of Bogota, she vows to continue battling corruption and work to “unite” Colombians across the political spectrum.
“As we said during the campaign: We will unite Bogota, we will make a government for everyone, not just for those who trusted us,” she wrote on Twitter after the win. She added a thank you to her competitors.
López was photographed kissing her partner, Angélica Lozano Correa, after her victory.
She beat her liberal rival runner-up, Carlos Fernando Galán, by 2.7 percentage points.
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