“n
Bogotá.- The far-right candidate of the Defenders of the Homeland movement, Abelardo de la Espriella, won this Sunday in the second round of Colombia’s presidential elections, after obtaining 12.9 million votes, surpassing the leftist candidate Iván Cepeda by a narrow margin.
n” “nAccording to preliminary data from the National Registry, with 99.45% of the polling stations counted, De la Espriella achieved a lead of 255,001 votes over Cepeda, who had accumulated 12.6 million votes.
n” “nThe difference between both candidates is 0.98 percentage points, a figure higher than the 0.55% remaining to be counted, which practically ensures the victory of the conservative leader and marks a political shift in the South American country.
n” “nYou can read: De la Espriella leads Cepeda by 1.85 points with 89.58% of the polling stations reported
The election day was marked by high political polarization, pitting two diametrically opposed nation projects against each other: that of De la Espriella, a lawyer and figure of the radical right who based his campaign on a discourse of a firm hand against crime and opposition to the outgoing government; and that of Cepeda, a leftist senator and ally of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, who defended the continuity of the social reforms promoted in recent years.
n” “nColombians went to the polls this Sunday to choose the successor to Gustavo Petro, in an election considered one of the most contested and polarized in the country’s recent history. The first round, held on May 31st, had already shown a lead for De la Espriella, who obtained 43.7% of the votes compared to 40.9% for Cepeda.
n” “nAlthough the preliminary count must still be ratified by the official scrutiny, the results known so far confirm the arrival of Abelardo de la Espriella at the Casa de Nariño, becoming the next president of Colombia.
n”
