Trump-Backed Outsider Holds Razor-Thin Lead in Colombia’s Runoff

Colombia’s presidential runoff ended Sunday night with a razor-thin lead for Abelardo de la Espriella, a conservative outsider endorsed by President Donald Trump, and a promise from his leftist opponent to contest the count. With 99.9 percent of results released by electoral authorities, de la Espriella had 49.7 percent to 48.7 percent for Iván Cepeda, the Associated Press reported, in stories carried by CBS News and NBC News. Election officials had not formally announced a winner.

De la Espriella, a businessman and lawyer who had never run for office before, told thousands of supporters in Barranquilla, speaking from behind bulletproof glass, that the Colombian people had entrusted him with the presidency. “I will govern for all Colombians,” he said. “There will be no retaliation, no persecution, because in a democracy there are no irreconcilable enemies.” Cepeda, a senator and the candidate of the ruling Pacto Histórico party, described by CBS as the heir to the policies of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, said his team will challenge the results from more than 30,000 voting stations, CBS reported. The network noted that no recount has ever flipped the outcome of a Colombian presidential election.

The race was a contest between two views of how to end decades of political violence. Al Jazeera reported that de la Espriella, nicknamed “The Tiger,” has promised to go after criminals and build 10 mega-prisons, copying the approach of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, which has lowered homicide rates but drawn accusations of human rights abuses. Cepeda promised to continue Petro’s effort to negotiate with armed groups, a strategy that has largely failed; Al Jazeera said it took until Thursday for the first group, of about 100 members, to give up its weapons and begin resettlement. Authorities recorded 14,780 homicides last year, the most since at least 2015, Al Jazeera reported, and extortion cases more than doubled over the decade.

Washington was a visible presence. Trump endorsed de la Espriella, and Petro told CBS News earlier this month that he sees the endorsement as interference, accusing the United States of abandoning anti-drug cooperation for ideological reasons. A de la Espriella victory is expected to reverse Petro’s agenda, including parallel peace negotiations with illegal armed groups, according to the AP. The AP said the election was colored by fears of a renewed internal conflict, citing car bombs, kidnappings, disappearances and forced displacements, and Al Jazeera noted accusations of human rights abuses against the Bukele approach.

The first round on May 31 gave de la Espriella 44 percent and Cepeda 41 percent, according to official results cited by CBS and Al Jazeera. Petro, without evidence, cast doubt on that result after Cepeda, who had led polls, finished second, and he repeated his allegations Sunday, saying “we must protect the vote.” In the closing days Cepeda filed complaints with the attorney general’s office and the International Criminal Court accusing de la Espriella of ties to paramilitary groups, Al Jazeera reported; de la Espriella denies it.

Up to 41 million people were eligible to vote, Al Jazeera reported. Voters described a tense mood. “It’s the first election where you feel this bit of fear,” Alex Vizcaino, 59, told Agence France-Presse in Barranquilla, as quoted by Al Jazeera. A lawyer in Bogotá, John Manrique, told CBS News: “What I hope is that people accept who won … Let’s not go out and fight.”