Left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda has conceded defeat in Colombia's presidential runoff to far-right millionaire lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, who won by a razor-thin margin of less than 1% of the vote. The official count confirmed De la Espriella's victory with 12.96 million votes against Cepeda's 12.7 million, a difference of just 250,000 votes.
Cepeda initially refused to recognise the result, alongside outgoing President Gustavo Petro, pending an official scrutiny process. However, after the count showed a 99.997% match with preliminary results, Cepeda called a press conference in Bogotá to concede. He stated he accepted the result as an act of democratic responsibility to promote coexistence and peace, though he emphasised that accepting the outcome did not mean renouncing the truth about what he called serious irregularities in the campaign.
Cepeda specifically denounced foreign interference, particularly from US President Donald Trump, who endorsed De la Espriella and described Cepeda as a 'radical left Marxist'. He criticised the open and improper involvement of the US government in Colombia's internal affairs.
President Gustavo Petro announced on social media that he would begin the transition process with the president-elect. He likened handing over power to giving Simón Bolívar's sword to a 'viceroy', referencing Trump's backing of De la Espriella. The president-elect has pledged to join the 'Shield of the Americas', a Trump-backed initiative uniting far-right governments in the region, and to resume a full-scale military offensive against Colombia's decades-long armed conflict, vowing to combat 'narco-terrorism' without complacency.
Once De la Espriella takes office on 7 August, only four countries in Latin America will remain under left-wing governance, as far-right leaders now dominate the region.
