Leftist senator clashes with pro-Trump foe in Colombian presidential run-off election

Colombia’s presidential election will go to a runoff on June 21st between a leftist and right-wing candidate on opposite ends of the political spectrum, after Sunday’s vote produced no overall winner.

The right-wing Abelardo de la Espriella, an admirer of Donald Trump, came top in the vote, followed closely by the left-wing senator Iván Cepeda, an ally of the current president Gustavo Petro.

The campaign was plagued with violence, including drone strikes, kidnappings, homicides and the assassination of a presidential candidate at a rally last year.

Both men offer differing visions for how to solve Colombia’s violent internal armed conflict that has lasted for decades but has resurged in recent years.

On Sunday, neither candidate achieved more than 50% of the vote to win outright.

While polls tipped Cepeda to finish ahead of his right-wing challenger, official results showed that he trailed, with 41% of votes compared to De La Espriella’s 43.7%, with almost all ballots counted.

After topping the vote, De La Espriella said in the runoff he would “defeat tyranny, absolutism”, calling the result a “triumph for those of us who have never experienced living off the state’s teat”.

Meanwhile, Cepeda said that he would not comment until the count was verified by judges.

Paloma Valencia, the moderate conservative who finished in third place on less than 7%, has since endorsed De La Espriella.

President Petro, who endorsed Cepeda, said he did not “accept the preliminary count results” and that he would wait for final results reviewed by judges. He alleged irregularities in the vote, including claiming that “hundreds of thousands of votes were added” – without providing any evidence.

Electoral authorities said the voting day had proceeded “normally and safely”.