The far-right candidate and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella mobilized ten million votes this Sunday and was the most voted in the first round of the presidential election. He had six times more support than the candidate backed by former president Álvaro Uribe, who used to be key in promoting right-wing candidates: Senator Paloma Valencia only gathered 1.6 million votes, 6.9% of those who went out to vote. De la Espriella came propelled by a discourse that has proven effective in other Latin American countries: Nayib Bukele’s tough hand, Javier Milei’s chainsaw. But he also managed to portray Uribismo as the establishment of “the usual ones,” thus starting a new era of the Colombian right: post-Uribismo. A right wing that does not deny Uribe’s popularity but also does not need him to win elections.
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