MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Sunday, May 31st 2026 - 21:30 UTC
“We are convinced that this afternoon we will celebrate the second progressive government in Colombia,” the senator said
Leftist senator Iván Cepeda, candidate of the ruling Pacto Histórico coalition, was leading on Sunday in the early bulletins of the count in the first round of Colombia's presidential elections, in which the electorate was to choose the successor of current President Gustavo Petro. With just 1% of the polling stations counted, according to data released by the National Registry Office, Cepeda was obtaining around 47% of the votes, followed by far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, of the Defensores de la Patria movement, with close to 40%. Right-wing uribista senator Paloma Valencia, of the Centro Democrático, registered around 6%. The effective electoral turnout will be known over the coming hours, in a country with more than 41 million eligible voters and a long historical pattern of high abstention.
The National Registry Office stated that the electoral day proceeded “with normality and full guarantees” across Colombian territory. “Once again we have delivered to the country with the organization of elections with full guarantees for all and with impeccable electoral logistics,” National Registrar Hernán Penagos said at a press conference, after the urns closed at four in the afternoon local time. The day involved 122,020 polling tables distributed throughout the country. If no candidate exceeds 50% of valid votes, the top two will contest a runoff on 21 June.
