Abelardo de la Espriella, the conservative outsider who calls himself “El Tigre”, has narrowly won Colombia’s presidential election, an initial count shows — a result his left-wing rival has yet to accept.
With more than 99% of ballots counted, de la Espriella secured 49.66% of the vote against 48.7% for Iván Cepeda, a close ally of outgoing President Gustavo Petro. The margin was just 250,830 votes, narrower than the 673,000-vote gap in the first round three weeks ago.
“Trump-backed Abelardo de la Espriella narrowly wins Colombia's presidential runoff; leftist rival refuses to concede.”
Cepeda, who helped architect Petro’s “total peace” strategy of negotiating with armed groups, declined to concede. “The preliminary count is not yet official or binding,” he said, adding he would recognise the result only after the official canvass and verifications were complete. Reuters reported that the verification process in the first round showed little difference from the initial tally.
The result marks a dramatic swing to the right after four years of Colombia’s first left-wing government, and comes amid escalating violence that has defined the campaign. Illegal armed groups — including FARC dissidents, the ELN and the Clan del Golfo — have roughly doubled their membership in five years, displacing tens of thousands. Edilma Martinez Flores, a displaced woman in Bogotá, described how her brother was murdered for not paying an extortion payment, and how leaflets forced her family to flee their home near Cali.
De la Espriella, a lawyer and businessman endorsed by Donald Trump, promised a military crackdown. “Any criminal who does not surrender will be taken down,” he has said, vowing 10 mega-prisons and an end to negotiations. In his victory speech in Barranquilla, where supporters waved Colombian flags and wore hats reading “Make Colombia Great Again”, he said: “Tonight begins a new stage for our country … a change of order.” He pledged to govern for all Colombians and protect the 1991 constitution. “Your rights, even if you did not vote for me, will be respected,” he declared from behind bulletproof glass.
Trump responded on Truth Social: “He Won, BIG!” One supporter, Patricia, said: “We are tired of the killings … We hope he will change the country, to a new one where we can have jobs and more security.”
But the razor-thin margin and Cepeda’s refusal to concede have fuelled uncertainty. De la Espriella’s victory is part of a wave of far-right wins across Latin America, but whether his iron-fist approach can curb the brutal internal conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands remains the defining question for a deeply divided nation.