Trump-backed political outsider wins Colombia's presidential runoff, early results show

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - BOGOTA — US-backed right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella has narrowly won Colombia's presidential runoff, preliminary results released on Sunday by the National Civil Registry show.

With 99.93% of the ballots tallied in the rapid pre-count system, De la Espriella, representing the Defensores de la Patria party, secured 49.65% of the vote, narrowly defeating Senator Ivan Cepeda of the ruling leftist Pacto Historico coalition, with 48.7%.

De la Espriella said "today begins a new stage for our country, a stage built on the free and democratic will of millions of citizens who chose to believe in a great, safe, prosperous Colombia full of opportunities".

The tight margin leaves a gap of less than 248,000 votes, triggering an immediate institutional standoff over who will govern the South American nation for the 2026–2030 term.

Both outgoing President Gustavo Petro and Cepeda have refused to recognize the verdict as final, citing voting irregularities and launching a massive legal challenge to contest tens of thousands of polling stations.

While acknowledging the initial figures published by electoral authorities Sunday night, Cepeda emphatically stated that the progressive movement would not concede the presidency until an exhaustive judicial scrutiny is completed.

“Tonight I must say the following: We acknowledge that the preliminary count conducted tonight is data that is still neither official nor binding,” he addressed his supporters.

“We acknowledge the initial results, but we must report that our tens of thousands of witnesses are proceeding to challenge 33,000 polling stations across the country. Each one must be subject to a recount.”

De la Espriella's supporters donned the country's yellow football jersey and waved Colombian flags. They sang and danced to music from a stage lit up with photos of de la Espriella's face, chanting, "stand firm for the homeland" and "Petro out!", before a fireworks display.

Some wore hats akin to US President Donald Trump's supporters, but saying "Make Colombia Great Again!"

Trump responded to the result, writing on Truth Social: "He Won, BIG!"

"We are tired of the killings in this country. And tired of the bureaucracy of this government. We have a president from the coast!" one supporter, Patricia said.

"We are proud of The Tiger. We hope he will change the country, to a new one where we can have jobs, and more security above everything," another supporter said.

Supporters of Cepeda were also on the streets of Barranquilla, voicing their concerns over the tight win.

"There's a palpable sense of unease in the air," Catalina La Grande, a student and activist who supported Cepeda, told the BBC.

"Such a narrow margin also worries us, because it reflects how divided the country is and the enormous challenges we face in defending democracy, peace, and people's rights."

De la Espriella, a high-profile criminal defense attorney and flashy corporate businessman, entered Sunday's vote carrying immense momentum after a surprise victory in the May 31 first round. His law-and-order platform styled after El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele resonated deeply with an electorate exhausted by a sharp spike in urban crime and the aggressive expansion of illegal armed groups throughout Colombia’s agricultural heartlands.

Throughout his campaign, De la Espriella pledged aggressive state interventions and massive military deployments to crush guerrilla organizations and drug-trafficking groups, a message heavily amplified by an explicit social media endorsement from US President Donald Trump, to whom De la Espriella is frequently compared.

Progressive critics have fiercely targeted De la Espriella, pointing to his past legal representation of figures linked to high-level international corruption scandals, including Alex Saab, a Colombian-born Venezuelan businessman who served as Venezuela's Minister of Industry and National Production, and warning that his hardline rhetoric poses a threat to civil liberties and existing peace frameworks.

De la Espriella's victory deals a severe blow to the political legacy of President Petro. His progressive successor, Senator Cepeda, a veteran congressman and human rights defender, campaigned as the defender of the Pacto Historico’s social and environmental agenda, prioritizing negotiated peace over total militarization.

But by positioning himself as the natural continuation of the status quo, Cepeda was unable to expand his base beyond progressive core voters.

The thin margin has thrown the official declaration of a winner into legal limbo. On Sunday evening, President Petro took to the US social media platform X to reject the Civil Registry's preliminary data, asserting that neither candidate can legally be declared president yet.

He alleged that widespread irregularities had tainted the day's vote, specifically pointing to "E-14 tally forms that lacked required signatures from poll workers." The outgoing leader called on his political base to contest polling stations immediately.

“We still cannot know who the president is, and there are many irregularities," Petro stated. "We’re heading to the recounts."

Petro reaffirmed that his administration would only accept an ultimate winner once judicial authorities conduct a final, manual review of the physical ballots, a process that could prolong political uncertainty in Bogota for days.

Demonstrating the ideological realignment, conservative leaders across the region moved quickly to recognize the outcome.

Argentine President Javier Milei and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa both issued public statements Sunday evening congratulating De la Espriella on his victory, signaling a sweeping rightward shift in South American geopolitics.