Colombian right-wing candidate De La Espriella wins tight presidential race

This combination of pictures created on June 21, 2026, shows Colombia's presidential candidate for the ruling Pacto Historico party, Ivan Cepeda (L), at a polling station during the presidential election runoff, in Bogota on June 21, 2026, and Colombia's presidential candidate for the Defensores de la Patria movement, Abelardo de la Espriella, at a polling station during the presidential election runoff in Barranquilla, Colombia, on June 21, 2026. Colombians head to the polls to pick a new president between a hard-right White House-backed lawyer and a leftist senator that will decide the fate of the country's stumbling peace process and strained ties with Washington. Raul Arboleda,jaime Saldarriaga | Afp | Getty Images Colombian right-wing candidate Abelardo De La Espriella has clinched a narrow victory in Sunday's presidential election, according to an initial ballot count, as voters bet on his Donald Trump-endorsed promise of a crackdown on crime and a stronger economy. De La Espriella had 49.66% of the vote while his rival, Senator Ivan Cepeda, trailed by some 250,000 votes at 48.70%, according to the national registrar's tally of just under 100% of ballots in the runoff election. Cepeda, 63, had pledged to maintain the policies of President Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and the country's first leftist president, including state pension payments for the poor, union-backed labor reforms, a moratorium on new oil projects, and continued peace talks with armed groups. …