Right-wing outsider takes slim lead in Colombian election
Mr De La Espriella, who has never served in elected office, has invited comparisons with El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele because of both his political style and his policy agenda.
Colombia’s presidential race is headed for a high-stakes runoff, with right-wing outsider Abelardo De La Espriella poised to face leftist Ivan Cepeda after first-round results showed a razor-thin margin between the two men, while Mr Cepeda and his allies said they would hold off on accepting the outcome until the count is formally confirmed.
Less than two percentage points separated the candidates, according to data from the country’s national registry office, in an election shaped by anxieties over security, a struggling economy and competing populist appeals.
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Lawyer De La Espriella captured 43.7% of the vote, while Mr Cepeda, a veteran senator and activist, secured just under 41%, the figures showed, leaving a gap of nearly 668,000 votes.
Mr De La Espriella, who has never served in elected office, has invited comparisons with El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele because of both his political style and his policy agenda.
Backers of Colombia’s presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella celebrated the early result
Mr Cepeda, a 63-year-old legislator, had been ahead in opinion polls, but surveys also indicated that the runoff could prove far more difficult once right-leaning and centrist voters are no longer split among several candidates.
Still, the relatively low turnout in yesterday’s voting could leave both campaigns with room to expand if they succeed in bringing more supporters to the polls for the 21 June runoff.
Roughly 58% of the country’s 41 million eligible voters cast ballots, according to registry office figures.
The left challenges the early count
Both Mr Cepeda and his ally, President Gustavo Petro, said they would wait for judges to complete a formal review of the results.
Speaking to supporters in Bogota, Mr Cepeda said irregularities may have taken place at an unknown number of polling stations.
“We are verifying, through our security and electoral observation mechanism, exactly how many are involved, according to initial reports, atypical voting has occurred. We therefore make it clear to the public that only once the vote-counting commissions have fully clarified this matter – clearly and rigorously – will we issue any statement on tonight’s results,” he said.
Mr Cepeda told supporters possible voting irregularities may have taken place
Mr Cepeda, whose father was a murdered communist leader, has pledged to seek peace with illegal armed groups through negotiations, an approach that has produced scant progress under Mr Petro.
He has also vowed to push further with reforms aimed at narrowing inequality and reducing poverty, including higher taxes on top earners, the transfer of 1 million hectares to victims of the country’s six-decade internal conflict and broader healthcare coverage.
In his speech, he attacked Mr De La Espriella over his record as a lawyer and described him as a figure of “mafia fascism”.
Mr De La Espriella, who has represented controversial clients including former Venezuelan minister Alex Saab, has argued that a Cepeda presidency would prolong Mr Petro’s economic agenda, including a ban on new oil projects that has alarmed establishment politicians and investors.
The lawyer has said he funded his campaign with his own money and did not accept donations from parties or major companies. Reuters was unable to independently confirm that claim.
Paloma Valencia, a senator supported by former President Alvaro Uribe, had until recently been the race’s leading right-wing contender, but won less than 7% of the vote. She said she would support Mr De La Espriella, and Mr Uribe did the same.
