Pro-Trump candidate pulls ahead in Colombia presidential vote as ruling party sows doubt in results

Key points

• Tough-on-crime outsider Aberaldo de la Espriella took the lead in Colombia's presidential race in the first round of voting on Sunday (May 31, 2026) night, setting up a runoff with Iván Cepeda, an ally of Colombia's outgoing President Gustavo Petro who questioned the results of the election.
• With no candidate taking an outright majority of the vote, the election will head to a second round in June.
• But Mr. Cepeda and Mr. Petro sowed doubt in the results of the first round, claiming without evidence that hundreds of thousands of votes were manipulated and that foreign actors manipulated the results of the election.
• Cepeda said he was waiting for electoral authorities to scrutinize the results before accepting the election.
• “Only when the vote-counting commissions have fully clarified what happened will we comment on tonight's results,” Mr. Cepeda said, though he acknowledged the vote was likely going to a second round....