Far-right millionaire Abelardo de la Espriella wins Colombia’s presidential runoff

Key Points:

• Abelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer and Trump supporter, narrowly won Colombia’s presidential runoff against leftwing senator Iván Cepeda, marking a shift back to rightwing governance after four years under leftist Gustavo Petro.
• De la Espriella secured 49.65% of the vote with a margin of just 248,310 votes over Cepeda, a closer result than the first round held three weeks prior.
• The victory is part of a broader trend of far-right candidates gaining ground in Latin America, with similar recent successes in Honduras, Chile, and Peru.
• President Gustavo Petro alleged irregularities in the preliminary vote count without evidence and stated he would only recognize the official results after the scrutiny process is completed.
• De la Espriella, who has never held public office, campaigned on a hardline security platform promising military confrontation against criminal groups, construction of maximum-security prisons, and US-backed airstrikes on coca plantations, contrasting sharply with Petro’s peace negotiation approach.