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Right-wing outsider Abelardo De La Espriella won Colombia’s first-round election with 43.7% of the vote, while leftist Iván Cepeda finished second with 40.9%, according to Colombia’s official preliminary vote count. They will compete for the presidency in a runoff on June 21.
Mainstream conservative Paloma Valencia earned just 6.9% of the vote in a rebuke of Colombia’s traditional establishment and a reflection of the country’s polarized political landscape.
Cepeda and his close ally, President Gustavo Petro, cast doubt on the first-round results, alleging without evidence that hundreds of thousands of votes were questionable. Per usual, a slower vote count to confirm the preliminary results is underway.
AQ asked analysts to share their reactions and perspectives.
