Colombia's new president decided by razor-tight election

Far-right millionaire Abelardo de la Espriella won with 49.66% of the people's vote.
Text: Alex Hopley
Published 2026-06-22

Abelardo de la Espriella is officially set to be the new president of Colombia. The self-styled outsider and millionaire lawyer is firm fan of US president Donald Trump, and managed to squeeze out a victory in a razor-tight election against left wing senator Iván Cepeda.

Cepeda's supporters are raising suspicious brows at Espriella's victory, according to The Guardian. With nearly 100% of ballots counted, the race proved incredibly tight. Espriella won 49.66% of the vote, and Cepeda had 48.7% of the country's vote. While this result was actually closer than some polls predicted, it is being seen as evidence of far-right tampering in the elections of South America, following the victories of Nasry Asfura in Honduras and José Antonio Kast in Chile.

The new president is set to take office on the 7th of August, where he has said he will look after all Colombians, whether they voted for him or not. In his victory speech, he also said he would "disembowel" the Left. Furthermore, he has promised to eradicate criminals, building 10 mega prisons and saying he'll kill them "like rats and cockroaches."

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