Runoff in Colombia: De la Espriella and Cepeda to face each other on June 21

Approximately 41 million citizens were called upon to elect a successor to incumbent Gustavo Petro, who was constitutionally barred from running for re-election after four years at the helm of the state. Initial reports indicate that voter turnout was just over 50 percent, slightly more than half of those eligible to vote. Observers interpret this as an indication that both camps can mobilize undecided voters in the coming three weeks.

Conservative Senator Paloma Valencia, who ran as a moderate candidate associated with former President Álvaro Uribe, finished a distant third with about seven percent. Sergio Fajardo, once a hopeful for the Green Party, received four percent; former Bogotá mayor Claudia López also performed far behind. Valencia announced her support for De La Espriella on election night.

First Round Results

Incumbent Petro initially did not acknowledge the preliminary quick counts, which originated from a private company owned by the Bautista brothers. He wrote on the online platform X about "irregularities" related to the evaluation software and the voter registry, but presented no evidence. Cepeda also announced that his campaign team was examining reports of an as-yet-undetermined number of polling stations with allegedly unusual results, and would only comment after the official counting commissions had completed their work. However, based on experience, the preliminary results published on election night in Colombia typically deviate only slightly from the official final outcome.

The 47-year-old De La Espriella is a lawyer, entrepreneur, and multimillionaire who has not previously been politically active. Born in Bogotá in 1978, he largely grew up in Montería, near the Caribbean coast, a stronghold of far-right paramilitaries like the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC). His mother comes from an influential cattle ranching family; his father, also a lawyer and judge, is considered a close confidant of former right-wing president Álvaro Uribe. At the age of 24, De La Espriella founded his own law firm, which quickly became very successful. As a lawyer, he represented paramilitaries, the mastermind of a fraudulent pyramid scheme that deprived hundreds of thousands of small investors of their savings, and the Colombian-Venezuelan businessman Alex Saab, who is considered a middleman for the ousted Venezuelan ruler Nicolás Maduro and is alleged to have laundered millions of dollars on his behalf.

Profile: Abelardo De La Espriella

De La Espriella entered politics in November 2025, launching his campaign before 15,000 supporters in a Bogotá concert hall with the project "Defensores de la Patria" (Defenders of the Fatherland). He cites former US President Ronald Reagan and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as political role models and sees himself as "El Tigre," the Tiger. He claims to own a Rolls-Royce Phantom worth several hundred thousand Swiss francs and a property in Miami. He plans to drastically reduce the Colombian state apparatus and stimulate economic growth through tax cuts, orienting himself towards the market-radical model of Argentine President Javier Milei. In security policy, he intends to follow the example of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and build dozens of new high-security prisons to combat drug trafficking.

He also plans aerial attacks on coca plantations and drug depots, even if they are located in other countries, and announced during his campaign that as president, he would carry out airstrikes against armed groups with US support. He supports the traditional economic elite, the military, and the Christian right. While he previously described himself as an atheist, he now says he found God a few years ago at the funeral of his beloved aunt. He promised conservative Catholics and evangelical groups that he would fight against so-called "gender ideology" and strengthen religious education in schools. In interviews, he said: "Our country has a choice between freedom and tyranny, between order and chaos." He told the "Financial Times": "I have defended good people and bad people. That's just the job of a lawyer." At his campaign launch, he declared: "The Tiger has awakened!"

His political style is often compared to that of US President Donald Trump, although Trump has not publicly supported De La Espriella despite repeated tensions with the current Colombian President Petro. De La Espriella presents himself as an outsider who represents the interests of the people against a corrupt political caste. In a TV interview years ago, he also admitted to tying firecrackers to cats' tails and setting them off as a child: "It was terrible, but I enjoyed it." At campaign events, he appears behind inch-thick bulletproof glass; two close supporters of De La Espriella had been shot dead a few weeks before the election. After the first round, he said: "I will kill myself for Colombia if necessary." He described the runoff on June 21 as the "final battle for the fatherland."

Profile: Iván Cepeda

His opponent Cepeda is 63 years old, a philosopher, and worked for a long time as a human rights lawyer. He is a close ally of Petro and belongs to the ruling left-wing coalition. Cepeda advocates for the continuation of peace talks with illegal armed groups within the framework of the "Paz Total" initiative, which did not achieve the hoped-for breakthrough under Petro. He plans extensive social reforms with higher taxes for high earners and land redistribution to victims of the decades-long internal conflict. At a final campaign rally, he promised to invest in social programs and put the state at the service of the marginalized. Cepeda, who is considered a former communist, said he intends to defeat the "far-right fascists" in three weeks.

Security Situation and Violence in the Election Campaign

The polarization between right and left characterizes the election campaign in Colombia. During the campaign, violent incidents increased, resulting in the deaths or injuries of civilians, soldiers, and police officers. Car bomb and drone attacks were carried out. In June 2025, conservative Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot at a campaign event in Bogotá and later died from his injuries; Uribe had advocated for a tougher security policy. Politicians from other camps are also reportedly facing attacks. Kristin Wesemann, head of the Colombia office of the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, stated that the state is experiencing "one of the most severe waves of violence in recent years." She explained that "67 percent of all municipalities [...] are exposed to illegal networks and groups" and "state security structures are extremely weakened."

According to a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Colombia experienced the worst humanitarian consequences of the armed conflict in a decade last year. More than 235,000 people were displaced last year. Colombia has been affected for decades by armed conflicts between state security forces, left-wing guerrilla groups, far-right paramilitaries, and drug cartels; hundreds of thousands have been killed, and millions displaced.

Assessment of Petro's Term

The assessment of Petro's four-year term is mixed. Supporters point to a noticeable decrease in poverty rates since 2022, significantly increased social spending, a 75 percent rise in the minimum wage, and declining unemployment, as shown by an analysis from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). Critics, however, accuse Petro of failing to achieve a decisive breakthrough against guerrilla and paramilitary groups with the "Paz Total" initiative. Several reform projects failed in Congress or were delayed; numerous cabinet reshuffles and publicly aired government conflicts drew criticism. Relations with US President Donald Trump are considered tense, partly due to disputes over migration, deportations, and drug policy.

Observers see De La Espriella as having a slight advantage in the runoff. According to polls, voters from the right and center could unite behind him, especially since the moderate conservative candidate Valencia has already pledged her support. Cepeda, on the other hand, was leading in the polls before the first round and achieved high approval ratings. On election night, according to his campaign team, he stated that he would only comment on the preliminary results once the official counting commissions had completed their work.

Petro announced that he would await the court-confirmed final result. In an initial reaction on the platform X, the incumbent president stated that the quick