Ultra De la Espriella wins elections in Colombia by a narrow margin

Only 250,000 votes. That's what separated the winner from his main rival, the left-wing candidate Ivan Cepeda, in the second round of the presidential elections held this Sunday in Colombia. Abelardo de la Espriella, a controversial criminal lawyer who supports following the ultra policies of countries like El Salvador or Argentina, will be the new Colombian president, confirming the radical shift that, election after election, is being drawn in America. However, the narrow margin of victory (49.6% of the votes to Cepeda's 48.7%) foreshadows uncertain days for the country because the results are not yet official and the final scrutiny, which may still take time to arrive, will have to be awaited. The official candidate, Ivan Cepeda, acknowledged De la Espriella's victory this Sunday, but at the same time stated that it will be necessary to wait and that this Sunday's "are not binding data." The president himself, Petro, who supported Cepeda, has asked the citizens for "calm" and stated that "no one can proclaim themselves president."

De la Espriella thus joins the increasingly numerous ultra leaders in America. An avowed admirer of Donald Trump, Javier Milei, and Nayib Bukele. He presents himself as an outsider in politics, a strong and transgressive man, backed by his success as a young businessman who built his fortune with businesses selling clothing, whisky, and precious stones in the United States to form a conglomerate of companies in the real estate, food, and livestock sectors. All this before becoming a media lawyer. Among his clients, he had defended drug traffickers in Miami, or Álex Saab, the Venezuelan extradited to the United States accused of being Nicolás Maduro's frontman, and Colombians linked to paramilitarism or accused of corruption. He has also defended communities affected by the environmental impact of the Cerro Matoso nickel mine.

This second round had a record participation of 63.59%: more than 26.3 million people went to vote. The far-right candidate received 12.9 million ballots, according to preliminary figures. In fact, the sum of null and unmarked votes is equivalent to 0.94%, which is almost the difference that De la Espriella has over Cepeda.

Historically, electoral participation in Colombia has been between 50% and 55%, so these elections mark an important milestone in the country.