MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombia's far right eyes landslide amid fears Petro will reject runoff result

In the first round on May 31, De la Espriella won about 10.3 million votes (43.74%) and Cepeda roughly 9.7 million (40.9%), a margin of under three points that sent both men to the runoff

The campaign of Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, of the far-right Defenders of the Homeland movement, is aiming for a decisive win in the June 21 runoff to shield the outcome from possible challenges, his campaign chief said.

“Let's not forget there is a president, Gustavo Petro, who already rejected the May 31 results and wants to reject them again on June 21,” former Liberal senator Mauricio Gómez Amín, the candidate's campaign manager, told the EFE news agency.

Gómez Amín argued that the win therefore “has to be decisive, has to be categorical, has to be overwhelming so that President Petro cannot pull any dirty maneuver.” De la Espriella will contest the presidency against leftist candidate Iván Cepeda, of the Historic Pact coalition.

In the first round on May 31, De la Espriella won about 10.3 million votes (43.74%) and Cepeda roughly 9.7 million (40.9%), a margin of under three points that sent both men to the runoff.

Petro, who has questioned the guarantees of the electoral system for months, insisted last week that he holds “proven grounds” of possible fraud, which he said he would hand to the authorities, and has not recognized the first-round results. He has not made that evidence public. Cepeda, by contrast, acknowledged the outcome on the Sunday after the vote.

Gómez Amín framed the contest as a clash between two visions of the country: the one he ascribed to Cepeda, which he called a “homeland of misery” and linked to corruption, chaos and insecurity, and the “homeland of miracles” he said De la Espriella and his running mate, José Manuel Restrepo, represent.

The campaign chief said De la Espriella offers “a safe homeland, a prosperous homeland” and would handle foreign relations “with stature and not via X,” a reference to Petro's clashes with other heads of state on social media.

Gómez Amín added that, if he wins, De la Espriella plans to be sworn in at a military garrison rather than the customary Plaza de Bolívar, to signal support for the security forces and back their task of “recovering the territories” where illegal armed groups operate.