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Right-wing candidate pulls ahead in first round of Colombia's presidential vote

runoff election are projected at Cepeda's campaign headquarters in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, May 31, 2026.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7790x5194+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F68%2Ff1%2Fef56aa89467098415fc49f3e195f%2Fap26151836304425.jpg) Election results showing presidential candidates

Colombia’s far-right presidential candidate De la Espriella wins first round of vote ahead of runoff

candidate De la Espriella wins first round of vote ahead of runoff The far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella won the first round of Colombia’s presidential election

First Thing: Trump tells critics to ‘sit back and relax’ as Iran claims to target US base

Colombia’s presidential election on Sunday](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/01/colombia-far-right-presidential-candidate-espriella-wins-first-round-of-vote-ahead-of-election-runoff). He will face Senator Iván Cepeda, the candidate backed by the leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, in the runoff

Trump admirer’s surprise first-round win is a blow to Colombia’s traditional conservatives

presidential election on Sunday. That is no insignificant margin, given that De la Espriella’s lead over Cepeda amounted to little more than 670,000 votes – 43.7% against 40.9%. Although polls had shown the wealthy

Colombia’s runoff election expected to trigger shift in decades-long armed conflict

presidential runoff expected to trigger to a dramatic shift in the country’s decades-long armed conflict, now at its most violent point since the landmark 2016 peace agreement between the government and most

Ghost of far-right paramilitaries hovers over Colombia’s presidential runoff vote

presidential runoff vote in [Colombia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/colombia), the country’s next leader will have a personal history intertwined with one of the criminal forces at the heart of a decades-long armed conflict that

Colombia prepares to go to polls in election shadowed by resurgence of political violence

election period, there has been a surge in guerrilla attacks, [homicides](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/18/drones-war-colombia-civilians-farc-acled), kidnappings, [forced displacement](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/09/clashes-colombia-venezuela-border-after-maduro-capture) and massacres; and last year, the rightwing senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay

Colombia goes to polls in election pitting outgoing leader’s ally against pro-Trump candidates

election has basically turned into a three-horse race. The senator and peace-builder Iván Cepeda – a Petro ally – has led the polls and promises to carry on with Petro’s “total peace” initiative

Colombia’s climate crossroads: Trumpism casts shadow over presidential battle

Presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella addresses supporters from a bulletproof booth during a campaign rally in Bogota, Colombia](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ed31403d0d1c362f6e4dce94f81fde3ec0a110e9/558_333_4788_3832/master/4788.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) The far-right candidate, Abelardo De La Espriella, is enthusiastic about reopening