Friday, June 12th 2026 - 21:19 UTC
In the first round on May 31, De la Espriella won about 10.3 million votes (43.74%) and Cepeda roughly 9.7 million (40.9%), a margin of under three points that sent both men to the runoff
The campaign of Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, of the far-right Defenders of the Homeland movement, is aiming for a decisive win in the June 21 runoff to shield the outcome from possible challenges, his campaign chief said.
“Let's not forget there is a president, Gustavo Petro, who already rejected the May 31 results and wants to reject them again on June 21,” former Liberal senator Mauricio Gómez Amín, the candidate's campaign manager, told the EFE news agency.
Gómez Amín argued that the win therefore “has to be decisive, has to be categorical, has to be overwhelming so that President Petro cannot pull any dirty maneuver.” De la Espriella will contest the presidency against leftist candidate Iván Cepeda, of the Historic Pact coalition.
