Q24N — On Sunday, June 21, Colombians elected Abelardo De la Espriella as their new president in a runoff election, abandoning the left-wing leadership represented by Iván Cepeda and Gustavo Petro.
The candidate from the Defensores de la Patria (Defenders of the Homeland) movement garnered 12.9 million votes, compared to Iván Cepeda’s 12.6 million.
The result represents a political defeat for the leftist incumbent, Gustavo Petro, who declared, “We’ll go to the recount,” after the results were announced.
At this time, Colombia’s media outlets such as El Espectador, El Colombiano, and El Tiempo are reporting the victory of the right-wing lawyer.
“With this result, the country takes a decisive political turn and puts an end to the Petro era in the Casa de Nariño (Presidential Palace). De la Espriella, who burst onto the political scene with a platform of a hardline approach, security, and economic recovery, managed to capitalize on the government’s waning popularity and consolidate a broad opposition bloc that ultimately proved decisive at the polls,” stated El Colombiano.
De la Espriella’s victory represents one of the biggest political upheavals in recent years, as he is a lawyer with no experience in public office, but with a frontal narrative against the left.