Colombia’s preliminary count: Abelardo de la Espriella elected president – Colombia News

Colombia’s voters elected far-right attorney Abelardo de la Espriella as their new president, according to the preliminary count of the National Registry.

With 99.58% of the preliminary tallies counted, De la Espriella obtained 49.65% of the votes.

His leftist opponent, Senator Ivan Cepeda, got 48.7% of the votes.

The remaining 1.63% voted blank.

The turnout was higher than 63.5%, a historic record.

Preliminary results (99.45% counted)

Cepeda said before polls opened that he would recognize the formal vote count, which is expected in the coming days.

President Gustavo Petro, “we are going to the scrutiny.”

Sunday’s preliminary count came from the National Registry, which has been discredited by multiple scandals since 2014.

Fueled by allegations leveled by President Gustavo Petro, the left was adamant about highlighting irregularities and alleged fraud on election day.

Barranquilla, De la Espriella’s home base, partially collapsed after the traffic lights stopped working and drinking water was shut off in the poor south.

Barranquilla mayor Alejandro Char has been accused of abusing his power to favor De la Espriella’s political aspirations.

The far-right’s campaign was additionally marred by violent incidents.

“Today we have observed attacks that have gone beyond personal insults to include calls to action or incitement, up to and including the symbolic or physical annihilation of political opponents,” Alejandra Barrios, the director of the NGO Election Observation Mission, told Caracol Radio.

More than a 150 independent journalists signed a letter in which they rejected the far right candidate’s judicial harassment of those investigating him and his shady past.

De la Espriella previously warned that he would “eviscerate the left,” and warned Cepeda and Petro that he would arrest and extradite them to the United States.

If the preliminary count is confirmed, the far-right president-elect will succeed his leftist predecessor on August 7. Cepeda will be given a seat in the Senate from where he can lead the leftist opposition to De la Espriella and his government.