Bogota, Colombia – Abelardo de la Espriella, a right-wing populist nicknamed ‘The Tiger’, narrowly won Colombia’s presidential election.
A criminal defense lawyer who has never held political office received 49.65% of the vote in this runoff election, while Ivan Cepeda, a left-wing senator and close ally of the current president, received 48.70%.
The Cepeda team said it accepts the numbers. The results were part of a preliminary tally and still require legal scrutiny.
De la Espriella’s tough security rhetoric was popular with his supporters. He promised to halt negotiations with armed groups, which had been carried out under President Gustavo Petro’s policy of total peace, increase defense spending and build giant prisons like Nayib Bukele in El Salvador.
He also promised to shrink the state’s size and stimulate its economy by attracting more investment and boosting growth from 3% to 7%.
His policies have been labeled right-wing, but analysts say this is a different style of right-wing politics Colombia has never seen before.
“This is an outsider right-wing, anti-establishment movement, focused on cultural battles, and has more to do with regional waves represented by Milei, Kast, Bukele and Trumpism than with Colombia’s traditional conservative movements,” said political consultant Ruben Erazo. Latin America Report. “We speak the language of social media, not party headquarters.”
Erazo said it was not just the policy promises that caught voters’ attention, but the rejection of the current government led by President Petro.
Petro, a former member of the now-defunct M-19 guerrilla group, is Colombia’s first leftist president. Although poverty has worsened under his administration, many citizens have said they are satisfied with some of his social reforms, while others have disagreed with what they perceive as failures in the areas of security, health and the economy.
“Abelardo de la Espriella did not win because of a detailed program. He won through an emotional identity that conveyed public frustration,” Erazo said.
Erazo said he used tiger symbols, national soccer team uniforms and stories of defending the country to persuade voters that four more years of left-wing governments would be detrimental to the country.
The number of the armed group’s fighters has doubled since 2022, when Petro took office, and has been recruited by FARC dissidents who have not disarmed since the 2016 peace deal, as well as other groups such as the Clan de Golfo and the ELN.
While analysts point to a variety of factors for the deteriorating security situation, many voters blame weak security policies and dialogue with armed groups.
Cepeda was the favorite to win the first round on May 31, with de la Espriella leading him by three points. His campaign tried to salvage votes ahead of the runoff and persuade undecided voters to vote for him, but that wasn’t enough.
Despite the results, the analysis is that this does not mean the fall of ‘Petrismo’. Cepeda won a historic vote for the left in the first round, surpassing Petro’s vote in the 2022 first round.
De la Espriella is scheduled to take office on August 7, 2026.
Featured image: Abelardo de la Espriella
Image credit: Abelardo de la Espriella via X
