Colombia's National Registry reported on Tuesday that there is a 99.997% coincidence between the preliminary results of Sunday's presidential runoff, which gave the victory to Abelardo de la Espriella, and the municipal counts, one of the stages of the process that will lead to the official declaration of the new president. “The preliminary count coincides with the judges' tally by 99.997%,” the body said in a statement.

Colombia's hard-right presidential candidate took an early lead as the country began counting ballots cast in Sunday's polarized presidential runoff, official results showed.

Right-wing presidential candidate, Abelardo de la Espriella, won 49.65% of the Colombians' votes, according to preliminary results. Outgoing President Gustavo Petro said "neither…