Will Colombia's right-wing hardliner De la Espriella be able to govern?
Key takeaways
- De la Espriella won the majority vote and received support from right-wingers in the US – but given his outsider status, will he be able to enact his policies?
- Issued on: 22/06/2026 - 20:58Modified: 22/06/2026 - 21:10
- With a neatly groomed beard and slicked back hair, the millionaire lawyer managed to win 49.7 percent of the votes to defeat leftist rival Ivan Cepeda by a razor-thin margin despite having no prior political experience.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Colombia on Sunday elected 47-year-old hardliner and millionaire lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella as the country’s next president just four years after electing Gustavo Petro the first left-wing president in the country's history. De la Espriella won the majority vote and received support from right-wingers in the US – but given his outsider status, will he be able to enact his policies?
Issued on: 22/06/2026 - 20:58Modified: 22/06/2026 - 21:10
By: Diya GUPTA Colombia's presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella is shown positioned behind bulletproof glass following the preliminary results of the presidential runoff election in Barranquilla, Colombia, June 21, 2026. © Jaime Samdarriaga, AFP Right-wing hardliner Abelardo de la Espriella, or “El Tigre” (The Tiger) as he calls himself, won a majority vote on Sunday to become Colombia’s next president at the age of 47. De la Espriella celebrated his victory the same way he ran the bulk of his campaign: waving to his supporters from behind thick bulletproof glass in the bright yellow national football jersey of Colombia (even after a judge ordered him to stop).