De La Espriella Wins Colombia's Presidential Election

Far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella has won Colombia's presidential election after his leftist rival, senator Iván Cepeda, conceded defeat. The concession came days after preliminary results showed De La Espriella as the apparent winner with a remarkably narrow margin.

With nearly all ballots counted, De La Espriella secured 12.95 million votes (49.7%), just 247,686 votes ahead of Cepeda’s 12.7 million (48.7%). A further 1.6% of ballots were cast blank. The margin was narrower than in the first round three weeks earlier, when De La Espriella had beaten Cepeda by 673,000 votes.

'At this stage of the vote count, I have decided to accept the result emerging from that process, which indicates that Abelardo de la Espriella is the new President of the Republic,' Cepeda said in an address to the nation. 'I do so as an act of democratic responsibility.'

De La Espriella's victory marks a sharp swing back to the right after four years under Colombia’s first and only leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, who backed Cepeda as his successor. The result is seen as further evidence of a wave of far-right candidates sweeping presidential elections across Latin America.

Both candidates initially refused to recognize the preliminary results, alleging irregularities without providing evidence. Petro claimed on social media that election officials were uploading forms without proper signatures and called for those polling stations to be challenged immediately. Cepeda similarly declined to accept the results earlier, stating his party would challenge 33,000 polling stations across the country.

In his concession speech, Cepeda made serious allegations that De La Espriella’s victory was influenced by 'foreign interference' by the United States and the use of artificial intelligence to manipulate voters. He further accused the opposing campaign of widespread vote-buying and unethical tactics that he said undermined the legitimacy of the election results.

De La Espriella campaigned on a promise of an iron fist approach against criminal groups, pledging to build 10 maximum-security 'mega-prisons' and kill criminals 'like rats and cockroaches.' He has also promised to dismantle Petro's 'total peace' plan of negotiating with criminal groups. Despite these hardline positions, De La Espriella presented himself as an anti-establishment candidate.

The election comes 10 years after Colombia signed a historic peace pact with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which offered hope to break the nation’s vicious cycle of fighting between rebel groups and the government. However, violence has since roared back, particularly as most rebel groups abandoned their ideologically driven fight for the financial benefits of drug trafficking.

Violent protests erupted in major cities following the announcement of preliminary results. In Bogota, demonstrators burned tires and hurled bricks at police, while in Cali some burned American flags and clashed with riot police who used tear gas to disperse crowds. De La Espriella supporters celebrated in several cities wearing canary-yellow national football jerseys he adopted as a campaign uniform.

De La Espriella's victory marks a return to power for Colombia’s right wing, which has ruled for all but four of the last 200 years. The closeness of the race will likely force De La Espriella to water down some of his proposals so as to get support from a divided Congress.

The lawyer, with no prior political experience and holding dual Colombian and U.S. citizenship, will also have to grapple with high public debt. He has presented himself as a businessman, but an investigation by local outlet La Silla Vacia found that many of his businesses have been dissolved, are in debt and have lost money overall.

President-elect De La Espriella will begin his four-year term in August. 'Starting August 7, we will work with determination to consolidate a common agenda that strengthens the security, freedom, and prosperity of our nations,' he said in a post on X.