Bogotá, Colombia – President Gustavo Petro rejected the outcomes of first-round presidential elections on Sunday, alleging irregularities.
Onerous-right populist Abelardo de la Espriella defied pollsters’ predictions to beat the candidate representing Petro’s leftist Historic Pact social gathering, Iván Cepeda, though neither surpassed the 50% required to win outright.
“The so-called rely being transmitted will not be legally binding. Its knowledge will not be thought-about official. As president, I don’t settle for the outcomes of the preliminary rely,” wrote Petro on X shortly after the election was referred to as.
In Colombia, the “pre-conteo”, or preliminary rely, relies on officers tallying the poll sheets and coming into them into a web-based software program. However the “escrutinio”, or scrutinized outcomes, often take a number of days to be introduced and are ratified by judges.
In response to the Registrar’s Workplace, which is answerable for overseeing the voting course of, the pre-count is “for informational functions solely” and has “no authorized standing.”
However de la Espriella obtained practically 700,000 extra votes than Cepeda, a niche which may be very unlikely to be closed after the scrutiny.
Delivering a speech after the outcomes had been launched, Cepeda stated he wouldn’t tackle the elections till the scrutinized rely got here out.
“Solely as soon as the vote-counting committees have totally, clearly, and totally clarified this matter will we touch upon tonight’s outcomes,” the senator advised a crowd of supporters on the Lodge Tequendama in central Bogotá.
He additionally referred to historic efforts by Colombia’s conventional events and establishments to repress the leftist motion embodied by the Historic Pact: “Our life has been a continuing battle.”
A crowd of Cepeda voters gathered close by to observe the speech on a big display screen, with some chanting the Spanish anti-fascist slogan “No Pasarán”. One pair held an indication studying “Fraud!”.
Petro has repeatedly warned that the elections could also be stolen, a part of a long-running dispute with Thomas Greg & Sons, a multinational firm answerable for electoral logistics.
In 2022, the Historic Pact gained some 500,000 votes in legislative elections following the scrutiny.
Whatever the last outcomes of the election, Cepeda and de la Espriella are set to face off in a second spherical on June 21.
Featured picture description: President Gustavo Petro at a cupboard assembly, October 22, 2025.
Featured picture credit score: @InfoPresidencia by way of X.
