Trump fan, leftist through to Colombia presidential runoff

BOGOTA

TOPSHOT - Colombia's presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, of the Salvadores de la Patria movement, gestures as he speaks to supporters behind bulletproof glass after a quick count of votes in the presidential election at the Ventana al Mundo monument in Barranquilla, Colombia, on May 31, 2026. (AFP)

Colombia’s first-round presidential vote on May 31 triggered a runoff between a pro-Trump showman and a leftist philosopher-turned-senator, after a security-dominated campaign that has been the most violent in over a decade.

Colombia’s electoral authority said right-wing hopeful Abelardo de la Espriella won 44 percent of the vote, beating leftist favorite Ivan Cepeda with 41 percent and a string of other candidates who trailed far behind.

It was a stronger-than-expected showing for 47-year-old De la Espriella, a pro-Trump lawyer, singer and clothier who calls himself “The Tiger” and has billed himself as a political norm-smashing outsider.

“I will kill myself for Colombia if I need to,” he said in an impassioned victory address while decked in a Colombia football jersey.

The campaign was marred by car bombs, drone attacks and the assassination of a leading presidential candidate and dozens of local political leaders.

Cepeda, who had been expected to top the vote, questioned the accuracy of initial results, but stopped short of claiming the election was rigged.

He vowed to defeat the “fascist extreme right” in the June 21 second round, linking his rival to mafiosos and plutocrats.

Campaigning from behind bulletproof glass, De la Espriella has vowed a “shock plan” to bombard armed groups, echoing the iron-fist rhetoric that has swept the right to power across Latin America.