Bogotá, Colombia – Exhausting proper provocateur Abelardo de la Espriella gained a shock victory within the first spherical of Colombia’s presidential elections Sunday, and can head to a run-off with leftist Iván Cepeda in June.
The newest voter intention polls had predicted Cepeda beating de la Espriella within the first spherical by an average of eight factors.
With over 99% of votes counted, de la Espriella leads Cepeda, by almost three proportion factors (43.7% to 40.9%).
A run-off election will happen on June 21 since no candidate achieved over 50% vote share.
Learn extra: Candidate guides for the 2026 Colombian elections: Abelardo de la Espriella
Voting intently adopted political divisions seen in earlier elections — together with in 2022 when Gustavo Petro gained the presidency, in addition to the 2016 plebiscite for a peace settlement with FARC rebels — with voters rural areas impacted by Colombia’s armed battle voting for Cepeda whereas voters within the coronary heart of the nation (save the capital Bogotá) voting for de la Espriella’s Defensores de la Patria ticket.
Paloma Valencia, a right-wing senator backed by former President Alvaro Uribe, was thought of a favorite to make it to the second spherical alongside Cepeda as just lately as early Could, however her marketing campaign ran out of steam within the closing weeks and she or he ended with lower than 7% of the vote.
Yann Basset, a political scientist from the College of Rosario in Bogotá instructed Latin America Reviews that he expects Valencia’s supporters will rally round de la Espriella, handing him a victory within the run-off in three weeks’ time.
De la Espriella, who has run a slick, AI-augmented social media marketing campaign, promised to “defeat the tyranny of the left.”
His proposals embody the development of 10 mega-prisons, a la El Salvador strongman Nayib Bukele, and militarization of the entire territory with the intention to fight unlawful armed teams.
Learn extra: Candidate guides for the 2026 Colombian elections: Iván Cepeda
For his half, Cepeda ran on a continuation of Petro’s Historic Pact for Colombia get together, together with persevering with efforts to realize “Complete Peace” with its many armed teams and narrowing the inequality hole in society.
“Colombia can and must be a simply nation. A rustic during which every citizen and each neighborhood has efficient entry to indispensable rights, property and companies for a satisfying life,” Cepeda said on the eve of elections.
Sunday evening, Petro said he wouldn’t settle for the preliminary rely outcomes, and defiant Cepeda supporters on the marketing campaign occasion within the Tequendama Lodge in Bogotá had been heard chanting “No pasarán!” (“They won’t go!”), referring to their right-wing rivals.
Featured picture: Abelardo de la Espriella at a marketing campaign rally in Nariño, Colombia in April 2026.
Picture credit score: Abelardo de la Espriella on X.
