BOGOTÁ, Colombia, June 25 (World Daily Times) — Colombia’s preliminary election results gave Abelardo de la Espriella a narrow win in Sunday’s presidential runoff, and rival Iván Cepeda later conceded while alleging foreign interference and digital manipulation in the campaign.
The National Civil Registry’s preliminary count showed de la Espriella ahead with about 49.7% of the vote to Cepeda’s 48.7%, according to the official tally cited in the reporting. Cepeda had initially questioned the result before saying in a concession speech that he would accept the outcome “as an act of democratic responsibility.”
Even after conceding, Cepeda accused the campaign of “open and improper foreign interference,” naming the United States government and President Donald Trump, and said vote-buying and artificial intelligence were used to sway voters.
De la Espriella, a lawyer and political outsider who had not held elected office before, built his campaign around security. He promised to build 10 maximum-security “mega-prisons” and said he would launch a military offensive against illegal armed factions, drug trafficking and other criminal activity.
Known as “El Tigre” and backed publicly by Trump, de la Espriella is scheduled to take office on Aug. 7. President Gustavo Petro questioned the preliminary count on X and called for an audit of the voting software.
