Far-Right Millionaire Wins Colombia Presidency Amidst Irregularity Claims! 🇨🇴
Far-Right Millionaire Wins Colombia Presidency Amidst Irregularity Claims! 🇨🇴
Abelardo de la Espriella has won Colombia's presidential runoff in a narrow victory over leftwing opponent Iván Cepeda. Allegations of vote count irregularities emerge as the country shifts right. Don't miss the details!
Abelardo de la Espriella, a self-styled “outsider” and far-right millionaire lawyer, has secured a narrow victory in Colombia’s presidential runoff, defeating leftwing senator Iván Cepeda. The preliminary vote tally, with 99.99% of ballots counted, showed De la Espriella with 12.96 million votes (49.66%), just 250,830 votes ahead of Cepeda, who garnered 12.7 million votes (48.7%). A small percentage of ballots, 1.6%, were cast blank. This margin was tighter than the first round three weeks prior, where De la Espriella had a lead of 673,000 votes.
Following his win, Cepeda’s campaign has raised allegations of vote count irregularities, casting a shadow over the election results. De la Espriella, known for his “iron fist” approach, has promised to tackle criminal groups, a key platform during his campaign. He delivered his victory speech in Barranquilla, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, where both his law firm and campaign headquarters are located, pledging to respect the constitution.
This election marks a significant political shift for Colombia, swinging back to the right after four years under the country’s first and only leftwing president, Gustavo Petro. Petro was constitutionally barred from seeking re-election and had backed Cepeda as his preferred successor. De la Espriella’s triumph is also being viewed as further evidence of a broader wave of far-right candidates succeeding in presidential elections across Latin America, drawing parallels with recent victories by Nasry Asfura in Honduras and José Antonio Kast in Chile, and the current lead held by Keiko Fujimori in Peru.
Notably, De la Espriella received the endorsement of former US president Donald Trump, albeit after winning the first round of the election. Trump publicly acknowledged the Colombian’s victory with a brief social media post, stating: “He Won, BIG!”. This endorsement further solidifies the international interest and political alignment surrounding De la Espriella's rise to power.
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