Far-right Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo De La Espriella greets supporters following preliminary results that show him leading leftist Ivan Cepeda, in Barranquilla, Colombia, on Sunday. Photo by Mauricio Duenas Castaneda/EPA
Abelardo De La Espriella, a far-right criminal defense lawyer endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump, claimed victory Sunday night in Colombia’s presidential runoff election as preliminary results indicated he held the narrowest of leads over leftist Sen. Ivan Cepeda.
Less than 1 percentage point, representing about 250,000 votes, separated the two candidates late Sunday when rapid preliminary results showed De La Espriella had secured 49.66% of the vote to Cepeda’s 48.77%.
“Compatriots, let us recognize this as a victory of a people who spoke, and the people should celebrate this triumph with joy and patriotism, because the miracle of the homeland begins today,” De La Espriella said in a speech while claiming victory before supporters.
He also urged supporters to “protect the votes” while calling on lawyers to remain alert and ready to defend “what the people decided.”
De La Espriella is a member of the far-right nationalist Defenders of the Homeland Party, which has been staunchly opposed to the government of left-wing President Gustavo Petro. Trump, who has openly feuded with Petro, endorsed De La Espriella early this month after first-round results showed he would face Cepeda in a runoff election.
“He Won, BIG!” Trump said late Sunday on his Truth Social media platform while sharing an article stating De La Espriella had a narrow lead over Cepeda. Trump last week called De La Espriella “a Smart, Strong and Tough Leader” and Cepeda “a Radical Left Marxist.”
No winner has been officially announced. The result will be finalized following an official canvass by election authorities. Cepeda has also not conceded.
Despite this, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement congratulating “President-Elect De La Espriella” on “his electoral victory.”
“The Trump administration looks forward to working closely with his incoming administration to advance our bilateral and regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States and strengthen the economic ties between our two countries,” he said.
“Through our close bilateral cooperation, and under the leadership of President-Elect De La Espriella, Colombia’s best days are ahead.”
In his own speech, Cepeda of the ruling left-wing Historic Pact coalition said his campaign recognized the preliminary count as “unofficial and nonbinding,” and that it intended to challenge 33,000 of the country’s 120,000 polling tables to ensure each tally sheet and result would be reviewed.
“I call on our entire election-monitoring group and apparatus to pay close attention to the review of each one of those voting tables, their tally sheets and results, until the final result of the official canvass is produced,” he said.
Cepeda has accused Trump of election interference, and remarked on the U.S. president’s involvement, stating that he “did not seek help from any foreign government” in his campaign.
With the election tight, Petro on Sunday night called for calm while declining to accept the preliminary count as final.
He said the election results were too close to call and accused De La Espriella of declaring victory out of fear of what an official canvass may find.
He also called for a review of overseas votes, especially those cast in the United States, stating they “heavily favored” De La Espriella. He warned that Colombia was nearing a point where the overseas vote, especially from the United States, could determine the leader of the country.
Cepeda and Petro made unsubstantiated allegations of irregularities in the election.
The runoff was called after neither candidate secured more than 50% of the vote following last month’s first round. De La Espriella had received nearly 44% of the vote, while Cepeda received nearly 41%.
De La Espriella had campaigned on a conservative platform of cracking down on crime, lowering taxes and rolling back many of Petro’s policies. Cepeda ran on continuing the progressive policies of the Petro government.
