Abelardo de la Espriella wins presidential elections in Colombia, preliminary count indicates The leftist presidential candidate in Colombia, Iván Cepeda, announced that his party will request the challenge of 33,000 polling stations, after the initial count indicated the victory of his opponent, Abelardo de la Espriella, in the country's elections. ➡️ Colombia returned to the polls on Sunday (21) for the 2nd round of the presidential elections, contested by Cepeda and Espriella.
Until the last update of this report, 99.99% of the ballot boxes had been counted, and the initial count indicated Espriella's victory. ✅ Follow the g1 international news channel on WhatsApp According to Cepeda, jurists who acted as observers for his party in different polling stations found errors in 33,000 stations — in Colombia, each polling station can have up to 300 votes.
The initial count shows a difference of about 250,000 votes between the two candidates. "Our lawyers are proceeding to challenge 33,000 stations across the country," Cepeda declared during a statement after the preliminary result indicating his opponent's victory.
👉 In Colombia, the challenge of votes occurs when there are suspicions of technical errors or irregularities in the voting or counting of votes. The competing parties can request a challenge during the counting phase.
A commission of the electoral Justice then analyzes the request and, if it accepts it, recounts the ballot boxes from the stations indicated in the challenge process. Leftist Iván Cepeda, presidential candidate in Colombia, votes in the 2nd round of the presidential elections in Bogotá, Colombia, on June 21, 2026. Sergio Acero/ Reuters In his speech after the preliminary results, Cepeda also said that he recognizes the initial count, but that he is awaiting the total count and the challenge process.
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, also said that it is necessary to wait for the final result. The local press expects the vote count to be concluded this Monday.
Preliminary count Map shows the number of votes for candidates in the 2nd round of the elections in Colombia, on June 21, 2026. art/g1 The preliminary vote count in Colombia indicates that the right-wing lawyer and businessman Abelardo de la Espriella won the presidential election by a narrow margin on Sunday (21). According to data from the so-called "pre-count", Espriella had 12,959,542 votes, against 12,708,712 for Iván Cepeda. 🔎 In the Colombian election, the counting has two stages.
The first is the so-called "preconteo (pre-count)", a preliminary count made from the records of the polling stations used to project the result. But, according to the country's legislation, the official result is only proclaimed after the "scrutiny", in which judges and other authorities review the records to correct any inconsistencies. This process should begin this Monday (22) and, in the 1st round, it took two days to be completed. In a video, Espriella celebrated the victory dressed in the Colombian national team jersey and defended military agreements with the United States to combat organized crime.
"Today, Colombia won its most important game," he stated. Cepeda made a statement to supporters and stated that he does not treat the result as official and that he will wait for the scrutiny. "With the official scrutiny, we will recognize the result." On social media, President Gustavo Petro stated that no result should be considered official until the conclusion of the scrutiny. "No president can be proclaimed. It is the scrutiny that determines who is the president. I obey the judges. Tranquility to the citizens, please. Reality shows us a country split in half, and foreign interference takes away our freedom. A national agreement is imposed if we want to maintain the homeland and peace in the years to come," wrote Petro. The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Colombia reported that the voting took place peacefully and was monitored by international observers. The triumph of the right-winger De la Espriella represents a turn in the country after the Petro government, the first leftist president in Colombia's history. Right-wing candidate Abelardo De La Espriella gestures among supporters during the 2nd round of Colombia's presidential elections in Barranquilla, Colombia, on June 21, 2026. REUTERS/Jair Coll The businessman campaigned with an anti-establishment discourse and hardline security proposals inspired by the government of El Salvador, of President Nayib Bukele. De la Espriella advocates for a military offensive against armed groups and drug traffickers and the construction of mega-prisons. Known by the nickname "El Tigre", the lawyer also promised to withdraw Colombia from international organizations, such as the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS).
According to him, these institutions serve to promote "leftist policies". The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, celebrated another victory for the right in the region. "The lion and the tiger roar in Latin America. Freedom advances and there is no turning back," he posted on a social network. See the repercussion. As the new president of Colombia, Espriella will join other right-wing leaders recently elected in Latin America, among them Jorge Kast, in Chile, and Rodrigo Paz, in Bolivia. In Peru, the count has been dragging on for two weeks, and the also right-wing Keiko Fujimori is ahead. Who is Abelardo de la Espriella Lawyer and businessman without political experience, De la Espriella presents himself as an "anti-establishment savior" and promises a radical cut in spending.
He is a naturalized U.S. citizen, has lived in Miami, and is a member of the Republican Party, the same as Trump. An admirer of the policies adopted by Trump and Bukele, he promises a military offensive against crime and the construction of 10 mega-prisons. "In my government, there will be no peace processes. Criminals who do not submit will be eliminated, as permitted by law,” he stated. Opinion polls point to violence as the main concern among Colombians, ahead of the economy, weakened by the pandemic and the increase in the fiscal deficit, despite the current government increasing the nominal minimum wage by 75% and reducing unemployment. Unlike Cepeda, he does not believe that the problem of the remaining guerrillas and armed groups operating in the country will be solved through dialogue. The businessman also blames Petro for Colombia's economic and security problems and promises to reduce the size of the State by 40% and cut corporate taxes to promote employment in the private sector. At the same time that he adopts a hardline discourse, the right-winger maintains a website called "De la Espriella Style", where he sells alcoholic beverages, books, songs in which he sings, and even clothes in which he appears as a poster boy. De la Espriella was also involved in controversies.
In a TV interview, he boasted about the size of his genital organ and stated that this helped him win votes. The lawyer was also questioned for having defended Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman accused by the U.S. government of acting as a front man for Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Saab was deported to the United States in May. De la Espriella states that the professional relationship with Saab began before the accusations arose. According to him, the two stopped working together six years ago.
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