Far-right Abelardo de la Espriella and leftist Iván Cepeda will compete for the Presidency of Colombia in a runoff on June 21. They obtained more than 40% of the votes this Sunday, in a more polarized scenario than expected. With 98% of the polling stations counted, the far-right candidate has more than 10.1 million votes, around 44%. The candidate supported by President Gustavo Petro follows with 9.5 million votes, just over 41%. The big surprise is the collapse of Paloma Valencia, the candidate of former President Álvaro Uribe. She obtains just over 1.6 million votes, barely above 6.5% and far below the 15% indicated by the polls. Sergio Fajardo and Claudia López complete the lineup.
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More than 23 million people have voted, around 56% of the electoral roll. About 400,000 people voted blank, 1.7%. Another 240,000 cast null votes, 1%. Unmarked votes were 47,000, 0.2%. The Registraduría has stated that the election day proceeded “normally and with full guarantees.”
Hernán Penagos Giraldo, national registrar: “Elections are a democratic struggle, not personal”
The national registrar, Hernán Penagos Giraldo, praised the speed with which the institution announced the results of the first round of elections. At this moment, 9,300 judges and notaries are registering the records. The official celebrated the broad participation as “democratic, transparent, and free.” “Elections are a democratic struggle, not personal,” he reminded.
About three million votes will decide the election in June
In a scenario of maximum polarization, three million votes will decide the runoff in June. Paloma Valencia has come in third place with 1.6 million votes, 7%. Sergio Fajardo has surpassed one million votes, with 4.3%. Claudia López is in fifth place with about 230,000 votes, 1%. Santiago Botero gathered about 200,000 votes, Mauricio Lizcano another 50,000, and Miguel Uribe Londoño around 30,000.
De la Espriella achieves 43.72% of the votes, with 99% of polling stations counted
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 22, with 121,327 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 99.43% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.72 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 40.92 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.92 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 4.26%
Claudia López-Leonardo Huerta: 0.95 %
Paloma Valencia changes the location where she will give statements
After Paloma Valencia’s resounding defeat, the campaign of the Uribista senator has decided to change the place where she will give her statement to the media and her voters. “It’s disrespectful,” said one of the voters who had been waiting for her since four in the afternoon at Compensar. At the last minute, everyone had to move to the GHL hotel to listen to her.
With 99% of polling stations counted, De la Espriella wins the first round with 43.7%
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 21, with 121,066 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 99.2% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.7%
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 40.9%
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.9%
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 4.3%
Claudia López-Leonardo Huerta: 1%
Jorge Rojas: “Colombia will not return to the past”
Iván Cepeda’s campaign chief in the Caribbean, Jorge Rojas, appeared calm on social media despite the results from 99% of polling stations counted. “Colombia will not return to the past. We are going to the runoff determined to win this election,” he announced on X. “What the Registraduría reports is a preliminary count, we must wait for the official tally. As candidate Iván Cepeda said, ‘we will defend our votes’,” he assured. De la Espriella and Cepeda will advance to the runoff with almost a 3% difference.
More people join the celebration of the ‘Tiger’ in Barranquilla
Dozens of people gather on the Barranquilla boardwalk to celebrate Abelardo de la Espriella’s victory in the first round. The political jingles of the self-styled ‘Tiger’ play loudly near the Crystal Pavilion, where the candidate for the runoff is expected to arrive in the coming hours.
Map of votes by territory. / National Registry
The electoral map remains the same as four years ago
The electoral map remains the same as four years ago, when Gustavo Petro defeated Rodolfo Hernández.
The coasts and the Amazon vote for the left, the interior for the far-right, and Bogotá is rebellious. Where in 2014 the Uribista Óscar Iván Zuluaga won, in 2016 the no in the plebiscite to ratify the Peace Agreement with the FARC, and in 2022 Rodolfo Hernández, Abelardo de la Espriella has won. And where Santos, the yes, or Petro triumphed, Cepeda has won. Without the equivalent of the United States’ swing states, the biggest surprise usually comes from the capital, Bogotá, where this time Cepeda has won with 41% of the votes against 37% for the far-right and 9% for the Uribista.
The map remains without significant changes despite all campaigns’ efforts to gain strength in rival strongholds: the far-right has not managed to win the Caribbean from the left, while Petro’s movement has not achieved a victory in the Coffee Axis.
With 99% of polling stations counted, De la Espriella advances to runoff with 43.72%
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 20, with 120,846 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 99.03% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.72 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 40.92 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.92 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 4.26%
Claudia López-Leonardo Huerta: 0.95 %
De la Espriella surpasses Cepeda by 659,134 votes, with almost 99% of polling stations counted
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 19, with 120,442 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 98.70% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.73 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 40.91 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.91 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 4.26%
Claudia López-Leonardo Huerta: 0.95 %
The Uribista candidate suffers an absolute defeat
The Uribista candidate Paloma Valencia has suffered an absolute defeat in this Sunday’s presidential elections. With 97% of polling stations counted, the Democratic Center senator has obtained just under 7% of the votes, a little over 1.5 million, and has been relegated to third place, far behind far-right Abelardo de la Espriella (43%) and leftist senator Iván Cepeda (40%). Valencia’s resounding fall also marks the end of the absolute power former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez had over right-wing voters for decades. Most voters in that political spectrum ultimately supported far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella.
De la Espriella surpasses Cepeda by 662,202 votes, with 98% of polling stations counted
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 18, with 119,912 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 98.27% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.74 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 40.90 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.91 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 4.26%
Claudia López-Leonardo Huerta: 0.94 %
Blank and null votes total 2.7%
More than 23 million people have voted, around 56% of the electoral roll. About 400,000 people voted blank, 1.7%. Another 240,000 cast null votes, 1%. Unmarked votes were 47,000, 0.2%.
Iván Cepeda supporters wait disheartened for the candidate’s words
About a thousand people, gathered in the Red Room of the Tequendama Hotel in Bogotá, wait with disappointment for candidate Iván Cepeda and his vice-presidential running mate Aida Quilcué. In the heart of Bogotá, party militants have gathered to await the intervention of the candidate who is in second place, with 40.88% for the next presidential runoff.
People have gathered with flags and shirts related to the Historic Pact, but the atmosphere feels subdued. Some watch the screens where the numbers keep moving, and others check their phones bulletin by bulletin.
De la Espriella surpasses 10 million votes, with 97% of polling stations counted
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 17, with 119,074 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 97.58% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.77 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 40.88 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.91 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 4.25 %
Claudia López-Leonardo Huerta: 0.94 %
De la Espriella and Cepeda advance to runoff, with 2.49% difference and 95% of polling stations counted
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 16, with 116,071 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 95.12% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.62 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 41.13 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.86 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 4.20 %
Claudia López-Leonardo Huerta: 0.95 %
De la Espriella surpasses Cepeda by 2.46%, with 93% of polling stations counted
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 15, with 113,296 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 92.85% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.63 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 41.17 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.84 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 4.18 %
Claudia López-Leonardo Huerta: 0.94 %
De la Espriella supporters celebrate the results that catapult their candidate to the runoff
Several supporters in Barranquilla of Abelardo de la Espriella celebrate the results that place the far-right candidate as the winner of the first presidential round and position him with good numbers for the second. “Firm for the homeland! Abelardo is the change we needed. He is the only one who can defeat Petro,” says a Barranquilla resident who has come to the city’s boardwalk to celebrate. The candidate is expected to give a statement in the coming hours in the northern area of the city.
De la Espriella surpasses Cepeda by 2.69%, with 89% of polling stations counted
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 14, with 109,188 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 89.48% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.77 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 41.08 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.81 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 4.16 %
Claudia López-Leonardo Huerta: 0.91 %
De la Espriella surpasses Cepeda by 2.24%, with 79% of polling stations counted
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 13, with 97,339 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 79.77% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.75 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 41.51 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.62 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 3.98 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 0.90 %
Valencia’s campaign stops publishing election results at their campaign headquarters
The campaign of Senator Paloma Valencia has decided to stop publishing election results after the fifth bulletin from the Registraduría, which made clear that her defeat was irreversible. On the three giant screens that broadcast the official signal with the results, videos of the senator and her vice-presidential running mate began to loop with Colombian music in the background. The few attendees at the place show faces of distress. Valencia has not even come to receive the results with her voters.
Claudia López is heading for an even more resounding defeat than polls indicated
The election results for Claudia López are much worse than expected. She barely obtains 0.8% of the votes, with 71.2% of polling stations counted. That is 123,916 votes, far below the 574,000 she obtained in the March primary and the 618,000 her coalition had if her vice president Leonardo Huerta’s votes were added.
The 0.8% of votes is not even half of the 2% she had in the latest polls. She falls from fifth to sixth place, below far-right Santiago Botero.
De la Espriella surpasses Cepeda by 2.76%, with 71% of polling stations counted
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 12, with 86,892 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 71.21% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 44.09 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 41.33 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.54 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 3.94 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 0.93 %
De la Espriella totals 44.21 %, compared to Iván Cepeda’s 41.01 %, with 62.64% of votes counted
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 11, with 76,439 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 62.64% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 44.21 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 41.01 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.62 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 4.04 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 0.93 %
The Registraduría publishes bulletin number 10 of the count
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 10, with 59,113 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 48.44% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 44.24 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 41.23 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.48 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 3.92 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 0.97 %
Uribismo is heading for a resounding defeat with less than 7% of the votes
Uribismo is heading for a resounding defeat. With 34% of polling stations counted, Senator Paloma Valencia barely obtains 6.5% of the votes. If this trend continues, the candidate would end the day with just over 1.2 million votes when all polling stations are counted. That would be less than half of what she obtained in the March primaries. Much of her electorate seems to have migrated to far-right Abelardo de la Espriella, who already has 44.4% of the votes.
The defeat is even stronger than the polls predicted, which placed her in third place with around 15% voting intention.
The Registraduría publishes bulletin number 9 of the count
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 9, with 41,111 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 33.69% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 44.35 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 41.23 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.43 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 3.83 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 1.02 %
The Registraduría publishes bulletin number 8 of the count
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 8, with 27,547 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 22.57% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.56 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 42.14 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.33 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 3.75 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 1.04 %
The Registraduría publishes bulletin number 7 of the count
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 7, with 15,274 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 12.51% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.19 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 42.94 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.13 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 3.49 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 1.09 %
Abelardo de la Espriella overtakes Iván Cepeda in the sixth bulletin
Far-right Abelardo de la Espriella has overtaken leftist Iván Cepeda in the sixth bulletin. With 7,559 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020, the criminal lawyer obtains 43.29% and the Petro senator 43.25%.
Paloma Valencia appears far behind, with 6%. Sergio Fajardo follows with 3.3%.
The Red Room of the Tequendama begins to fill awaiting Iván Cepeda
The iconic Red Room of the Tequendama Hotel, where the Colombian left has celebrated victories and alliances, begins to fill with supporters and militants of the Historic Pact. From here, candidate Iván Cepeda and his running mate Aida Quilcué will receive the results of the first presidential round. Once the total count is known, the candidate will give a speech to his electorate.
This is not the first time this room has defined the fate of the Colombian left: alliances were signed here, candidacies launched, and decisions made that led the Historic Pact to this May 31. In this same venue, the unification of the Historic Pact was sealed, and it was here that Gustavo Petro received the results of the 2022 first presidential round.
De la Espriella surpasses Cepeda for the first time in the bulletins
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 6, with 7,559 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 6.19% of the votes.
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 43.29 %
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 43.25 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.00 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 3.27 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 1.12 %
Iván Cepeda narrowly surpasses De la Espriella after the first results
The first bulletins show extreme polarization between leftist Iván Cepeda and far-right Abelardo de la Espriella. With 2.67% of polling stations counted, the Petro candidate narrowly surpasses the far-right candidate: 44.63% against 42.51%.
The Registraduría publishes the fifth bulletin of the count
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 5, with 3,261 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 2.67% of the votes.
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 44.63 %
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 42.51 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 5.93 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 2.78 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 1.07 %
The Registraduría publishes the fourth bulletin of the count
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 4, with 1,218 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 0.99% of the votes.
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 47.32 %
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 40.01 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.00 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 2.46 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 0.99 %
The Registraduría states that the elections were conducted “normally and with full guarantees”
The Registraduría has stated that the election day proceeded “normally and with full guarantees.” “Once again, we have delivered to the country the organization of elections with full guarantees for all and impeccable electoral logistics,” said national registrar Hernán Penagos in a press conference.
The voting jurors have begun the preliminary count. The Registraduría has stated that the 360,000 records from more than 122,000 polling stations will be published. The registrar highlighted the work of 800,000 jurors, 400,000 electoral witnesses, and 9,300 judges and notaries. “They perform the most important task of the electoral process: they review the electoral records, declare the results in each of Colombia’s municipalities, and thus, once that information is consolidated, it is known who is the president of our country and what the results were.”
The Registraduría publishes the third bulletin of the count
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 3, with 405 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020. This represents 0.33% of the votes.
Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 54.41 %
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 34.67 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 4.98 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 2.17 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 0.81 %
The Registraduría publishes the second bulletin of the count
The Registraduría has published bulletin number 2, with 113 polling stations counted out of a total of 122,020.
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Iván Cepeda-Aida Quilcué: 68.54%
Abelardo de la Espriella-José Manuel Restrepo: 22.80 %
Paloma Valencia-Juan Daniel Oviedo: 3.46 %
Sergio Fajardo-Edna Bonilla: 2.17 %
Santiago Botero-Carlos Cuevas: 0.58 %
