Supporters of Historical Pact candidate Iván Cepeda at his campaign rally in Bogota, June 13, 2026. Photo: Juan Barreto/AFP.
By Jimmy López Morillo – Jun 20, 2026
The Colombian people will go to the second round of the presidential elections this Sunday to choose the direction that the country will take over the next four years. Colombians will decide between two opposing poles: the left, represented by Senator Iván Cepeda, and the far-right, represented by lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella.
The latter surprisingly emerged as the winner of the first round, held on May 31, with 43.78%, ahead of Cepeda, representing the ruling Historical Pact coalition, finishing with 40.99% and a difference of about 670,000 votes between them, while the candidate of Uribism, Paloma Valencia, finished in third place with 6.93%.
As soon as these results were made public, the former president right-wing Álvaro Uribe expressed his support for the De la Espriella, along with his Democratic Center party, as well as the Conservative Party and the Union Party for the People. The business sector also expressed its support for the candidate of the Defenders of the Homeland movement, which is logical, as he is a member of a business guild.
Meanwhile, Cepeda has received support for this runoff from the Indigenous and Social Alternative Movement, the Movement of Indigenous Authorities of Colombia, the Comunes Party, the former mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, as well as other indigenous, social, youth, and academic organizations and personalities.
The latest polls released at midnight on Saturday, June 20, give the far-right candidate a lead of 3 to 8 points in the second round.
Contest is tighter than it appears
The director of the National Association of Colombians in Venezuela, Juan Carlos Tanus, opines that the real opinion poll will be the Sunday election and that the vote difference between the two candidates is much smaller than what the opinion polls show.
“Well, there are polls that give De la Espriella some crazy margins,” he said. “However, I do believe that it will be very close, very tight, between 2.75 and 2.76%, because the [left’s] vote will increase.”
Starting from that premise, Tanus added that “since the first round, there has been enough interaction [in Cepeda’s campaign] with sufficient elements to win. I believe that the growth in support in the regions, in the territories, has been favorable.”
In this scenario, Juan Carlos Tanus highlights the need to attract voters who did not support the progressive candidate in the first round which is “the big question and where the senator’s campaign with Aída Quilcué [his vice-presidential candidate] has moved.”
Although Paloma Valencia’s support for fascism is well known, Tanus added that “we need to review what [Sergio] Fajardo will do, who got 4.26% and who on social media has taken a position against Abelardo de la Espriella.”
Tanus further highlighted that in the second round, regional relations are also in play. “We are not just choosing the government between one trend and another, but also the real process of participation in an integration with Latin America, with the Caribbean, with the poor peoples of the world,” he said.
He pointed out that “we are in a political game with a marked tendency toward totalitarianism, fascist extremism, or, on the contrary, deciding on a trend that looks for improvements in macroeconomics, social investment, and the role of the state for the benefit of the most needy sectors of the population.”
Tanus warned that “the tranquility and peace between Colombia and Venezuela is also in the mix, because De la Espriella has declared that he would cut off relations between our two countries. For all these reasons, it is essential to defeat the far-right in the elections this Sunday.”
US interference in Colombian elections
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has engaged in meddling in the internal affairs of Colombia, calling upon the people of Colombia to vote for the far-right candidate, Abelardo de la Espriella, using his usually threatening tones.
For this reason, Juan Carlos Tanus warns that “we are facing the greatest interference by the United States in an electoral contest in our country, similar to the kind of interference that recently happened in Argentina and Honduras. This is why I believe that, without a doubt, the peace, harmony, and tranquility of Latin America are at stake.
“Trump has said that Colombia will be better off with the spy that the US has here [De la Espriella is a US citizen]. The interference is total,” he said.
Tanus also highlighted De la Espriella’s third nationality, Italian, “which may bring legal issues. This sort of thing does not create a stir in the US, but even among the economically dominant sectors in Colombia, it raises alarms because it could affect the development in Colombia over the next four years due to the lawsuits that could arise against a candidate who pledged loyalty to another country.”
Left candidate’s efforts to follow Petro’s footsteps
The candidate of the Historical Pact, Iván Cepeda, has emphasized that he intends to continue on the path laid out by President Gustavo Petro, the first leftist president in the history of Colombia.
Colombia: Iván Cepeda Concludes Campaign in Bogotá Amid June 21 Runoff
During his campaign rally on June 14 in the town of Soledad, very close to Barranquilla, Cepeda emphasized that during the current president’s administration “for the first time in our republican history we put social transformations at the center: we lifted millions out of poverty, advanced agrarian reform, dignified pensions, and expanded educational and health coverage.”
Regarding Cepeda’s chances, Juan Carlos Tanus, said, “I see him gaining ground in departments like Cesar, La Guajira, Córdoba. There, the growth of Cepeda’s support could be around 30-32%, something that was not present in the first round. I see him standing out in his accusations against De la Espriella, such as the corruption in public health resources and his links to paramilitaries. He has also pointed out the legal issues involving the three nationalities of the far-right candidate, which raised alarms among former magistrates who warn about the impracticality of electing him for that reason.”
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
