Abelardo de la Espriella leads Colombia’s Presidential Runoff Election

Key facts

• Abelardo de la Espriella, a conservative political outsider and lawyer, secured 49.7% of the votes in Colombia’s runoff presidential election.
• Progressive lawmaker Iván Cepeda of the Pacto Historico party received 48.7% support, with 99.9% of the results released by electoral authorities.
• The winner of the election is scheduled to begin a four-year term starting on 7 August 2026, succeeding the outgoing President Gustavo Petro.
• De la Espriella, who holds dual Colombian and United States (U.S.) citizenship, proposed a heavy-handed crime-fighting approach and the construction of mega-prisons.
• Conservative presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe was among those killed during the period leading up to the election, which saw 14,780 homicides recorded in the previous year.