Alejandro Eder Wins Election to Be Next Mayor of Cali

Alejandro Eder has won the elections in Cali and will be the new mayor of the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, starting in 2024. The third most populous city in the country was perhaps where the regional elections presented the most uncertainties, although the winners in Bogotá and Medellín were expected, as they turned out to be.

With 100% of the vote counted, Eder prevails with 40,39%, followed by Roberto Ortiz with barely 28,21%. Ortiz, who was running for the third time, has once again been defeated, despite leading in some polls. On the other hand, Alejandro Eder ran as an independent candidate with the endorsement of Compromiso Ciudadano, the party of former presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo.

Background of the New Mayor

Born in the United States, Alejandro Eder has lived almost his entire life in Colombia, specifically in Cali, the city where he will become mayor starting on January 1, 2024. He is the son of a former mayor of the Valle del Cauca capital and the grandson of Harold Eder, one of the first people kidnapped by the extinct FARC guerrilla in the 1960s.

An expert in security policies and conflict resolution, Eder advised the strategic redesign of the National Reintegration Policy under the government of Alvaro Uribe. From 2007 to 2010, he served as a political advisor and manager of the Cooperation and International Relations Unit of the High Counselor for Peace and Reintegration, with Frankk Pearl as the head of that department.

As an international spokesperson, Eder garnered international support for Uribe’s National Reintegration Policy, as well as for peace-building initiatives that included the Law of Justice and Peace, programs for preventing child recruitment, and the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration process.

See all the Colombia regional elections results here.