In a dramatic election in Colombia, opposition candidate Abelardo de la Espriella defeated rival Ivan Cepeda by a razor-thin margin. With 99.9% of votes counted, de la Espriella led 49.7% to 48.7%. He declared victory overnight from Barranquilla before thousands of supporters. Gustavo Petro’s camp, however, rejected the result, called the count unofficial, and said it was preparing a broad legal challenge over 30,000 polling stations.
Petro, Colombia’s outgoing president, expanded his accusations on social media. He said he had warned that the Bautista brothers’ software was vulnerable, citing a 2018 ruling by the State Council, and had demanded a switch to public software. He also said he had sought expert audits but that the registrar refused. Petro now claims there is evidence of changes to the IP addresses of National Registry servers, which he says points to a hack and fabricated data. He wrote, “The only body in the world capable of doing this is the State of Israel.” He is demanding a full scrutinio, a detailed ballot-by-ballot count, and a recount of all votes, along with an examination of voter results.
De la Espriella, a lawyer and businessman with no prior political experience and dual citizenship, ran as a Republican Party member on a hard-line platform against crime and drug trafficking. He said he would end Petro’s peace efforts with armed groups and build “giant prisons,” modeled on Nayib Bukele’s policy in El Salvador. His win came despite Petro’s attempt to highlight social achievements, and many voters shifted to him because they felt Petro had failed to lower utility and food prices.
The result drew congratulations from leaders including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador, and Donald Trump, who posted, “He won, big time!” The vote comes amid rising violence in Colombia a decade after the peace deal with the FARC, including 14,780 murders in the past year, the highest number since 2015, and a sharp rise in extortion. The killing of conservative candidate Miguel Uribe in 2025 deepened tensions, and illegal armed groups now number more than 27,000 members. Experts say the outcome reflects deep polarization, but note that recounts have never overturned a Colombian presidential election.
