A deeply divided citizens will select Colombia’s subsequent president in a runoff on Sunday that pits a progressive in opposition to a conservative outsider, with each candidates tapping into fears of a renewed inner battle within the nation as they signify “two very excessive sides,” one Colombian stated.
“Proper now, what worries me is the polarization that exists between us: there are two very excessive sides, and the violence is regarding,” stated John Manrique, a lawyer in Colombia’s capital, Bogota. “What I hope is that folks settle for who gained … Let’s not exit and battle.”
Greater than 41 million individuals have been eligible to vote on Sunday. Voters will select between Iván Cepeda, a far-left senator and candidate of the ruling Pacto Histórico occasion, who can be the inheritor to President Gustavo Petro’s insurance policies, and Abelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has modeled his rhetoric and optics after President Trump and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele. Their race in what has been a high-stakes presidential election for Colombia headed to a runoff after Cepeda and Espriella defeated 9 different contenders on Could 31.
Polls closed Sunday at 4 p.m.
Each candidates are pitching methods that they are saying will forestall the South American nation from experiencing the nonstop cruel violence, corresponding to automotive bombs, kidnappings, disappearances and compelled displacements that Colombians lived with in earlier many years.
De la Espriella is proposing a heavy-handed strategy that has earned him the endorsement of President Trump.
However Petro instructed CBS Information earlier this month that he noticed Trump’s endorsement as an act of interference, accusing Washington of abandoning its anti-drug mission cooperation for ideological causes. He additionally warned that Colombia would see a wave of political violence if the proper have been to imagine energy.
The Colombian president had beforehand stated in a social media submit, through which he endorsed de la Espriella, that the outcomes of his nation’s election “are essential to the way forward for Colombia and its relationship to the USA.
AP Photograph 
Cepeda is promising to proceed Petro’s efforts, together with makes an attempt at establishing dialogue with a number of unlawful armed teams regardless that these efforts have largely failed.
The 2 candidates are also providing differing options for the nation’s struggling well being system, ballooning public debt and entrenched corruption.
President once more questions election outcomes
Within the first spherical, Cepeda earned 41% of the vote, whereas de la Espriella garnered 44%, based on official outcomes. Petro, with out proof, sowed doubts within the outcomes after Cepeda, who had constantly lead polls forward of the Could vote, didn’t win outright and even completed behind de la Espriella.
Petro reiterated his allegations on Sunday.
“We should shield the vote, undoubtedly,” he stated shortly earlier than polls opened.
His motion will present particulars about “all of the accounts and funds that have been transacted from overseas,” Petro added. Actors, whom he didn’t establish, “tried to enslave the individuals of Colombia by taking away their freedom to resolve.”
Polls will stay open till 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Yolanda Hernández, 49, voted early, earlier than she began promoting black-ink pens outdoors a Bogota voting middle. Purchasers, she stated, purchase the pens as a result of ink can’t be erased from paper ballots, which reduces the opportunity of fraud.
Hernández, who recycles trash for a dwelling, voted for Petro in 2022, however forged her poll for de la Espriella this time. Whereas she acknowledged that Petro was unable to ship on guarantees meant to assist the poor due to congressional gridlock, she stated Colombia can’t afford one other 4 years beneath his imaginative and prescient for the nation.
“We wish change in Colombia as a result of it is at all times the identical violence, at all times the identical factor,” Hernández stated. “(Petro) stated he was going to decrease the price of companies, that he was going to decrease the value of meals, and all the pieces is dearer.”
Nation tormented by preventing between insurgent teams
The election comes 10 years after Colombia signed a historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that had supplied hope to interrupt the nation’s vicious cycle of preventing between insurgent teams and the federal government.
However violence has since roared again, significantly as most insurgent teams deserted their ideologically pushed battle for the monetary advantages of drug trafficking.
AP Photograph/Fernando Vergara 
Final 12 months, authorities recorded 14,780 homicides, probably the most since no less than 2015 and pushed by clashes amongst unlawful armed teams. Amongst these killed was conservative presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe. Extortions have additionally soared, reaching 13,417 circumstances in 2025, greater than double the quantity tallied in 2015.
De la Espriella, a political newcomer nicknamed “The Tiger,” has promised to fiercely go after criminals and construct 10 mega-prisons, emulating the insurance policies of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele which have lowered murder charges however have fueled accusations of human rights abuses.
Cepeda needs to hold on Petro’s fraught signature plan to attain “complete peace” by negotiating pacts with guerrillas and legal gangs. The closely criticized technique that Petro kicked off in 2022 took till Thursday to see the primary armed group — one with about 100 members — hand over its weapons and start a resettlement course of that may result in their reintegration into civilian life. Colombia’s unlawful teams have greater than 27,000 members.
Fernando Lozano, 34, determined to vote for the primary time in a decade due to the vastly completely different proposals between Cepeda and de la Espriella, significantly the latter’s intentions to face off with armed teams.
“Anybody would assume it is not a foul factor to have the ability to finish all this as soon as and for all. Nevertheless it’s not as straightforward because it appears,” Lozano stated, including that the combative strategy already failed earlier than and will solely result in extra violence if tried once more. “You’ll be able to’t simply go there and confront them and anticipate all the pieces to be resolved in six months. That takes years.”
Yamile Guevara, a retired instructor in Bogota, stated Petro’s plans want extra time to bear outcomes as he couldn’t fairly be anticipated to make lasting modifications in a battle that has gone on for six many years. She additionally criticized what she described as voters’ perennial mistrust of Colombia’s left over its long-held affiliation with insurgent teams.
“The left has at all times been considered negatively; it has been harsh, and many individuals have died,” Guevara, a Cepeda supporter, stated. “So, one wonders what’s mistaken with individuals who have forgotten historical past … how can they not consider carefully about which candidate they’ll elect?”
The lead-up to the runoff has seen a rise in verbal assaults between the candidates in addition to accusations of fraud, vote-buying and intimidation.
Cepeda filed a criticism with the Colombian Legal professional Normal’s Workplace and the Worldwide Felony Court docket in opposition to de la Espriella, accusing him of getting ties to paramilitary teams. De la Espriella has denied the accusation.
