Colombia to choose President this Sunday 06/21/2026
Colombia to decide on Sunday to make a right turn or continue on the left road!
Buga/Soledad, Colombia, June 14 (EFE).-
Colombia’s two presidential candidates wrapped up their campaigns for the second round of elections on Sunday with large rallies as far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella aimed to win “the spiritual battle,” while leftist Iván Cepeda said that he would govern “for a just cause.”
The candidates concluded the public phase of their campaigns, as they are only permitted to hold private events during the final week before the election on June 21.
The latest poll was also published on Sunday, showing de la Espriella, who received the most votes in the first round, leading Cepeda by almost four percentage points in voter intention for the second round.
De la Espriella, of the Defenders of the Homeland movement, has 48.6 percent of voter intention, while Cepeda, of the Historical Pact, the party of President Gustavo Petro, reached 44.7 percent, according to Sunday’s poll by the National Consulting Center published in Cambio magazine.
Two other polls, one by Guarumo and Ecoanalítica for the newspaper El Tiempo, and another by AtlasIntel for Semana magazine, gave the far-right candidate a lead of 7.6 and 7.8 percentage points, respectively, over Cepeda.
Threats against voters
Wearing Colombian t-shirts and waving flags, and carrying signs with the logo of ‘El Tigre’ (The Tiger), as he is known by his supporters, thousands accompanied de la Espriella at the closing of his campaign in Buga, in the southwest department of Valle del Cauca, where they sang his catchy jingles.
The far-right lawyer decided to close his campaign in Buga because it houses the Minor Basilica of the Lord of Miracles, and he entrusted himself to the religious figure, to win the elections next Sunday.
In a fiery speech, typical of his style, de la Espriella denounced that illegal armed groups are threatening his voters in the departments of Cauca and Nariño, in the Pacific region.
“What is happening in Nariño and Cauca constitutes a serious threat to democracy and electoral freedom. In more than 46 of the 64 municipalities of Nariño and in more than 36 of the 42 municipalities of Cauca, there is strong armed pressure from illegal groups on the population,” he stated.
The candidate explained that the threats coincide with the areas where there were “atypical election results,” in which “the heir to misrule and the FARC,” as he refers to Cepeda, “retains close to 70 percent of the population, even reaching close to 95 percent” in the first round of voting, held on May 31.
De la Espriella spoke of this campaign as a “struggle” that “was much bigger than a candidate and an election, much bigger than a political party.”
“I understood that this is not only a political campaign, it is a moral battle, a spiritual war, a battle for the very soul of the nation, and with the help of ‘Negrito’ and your fervor, we are going to win it and we will celebrate on June 21,” he said.
‘The Best Program’
Cepeda, for his part, closed his campaign in Soledad, a municipality in the Barranquilla metropolitan area, which traditionally votes for the left and is a stronghold of the Historical Pact, the party to which he belongs, as does President Gustavo Petro, whom he aspires to succeed.
There, before a crowd that chanted his name throughout the afternoon, he expressed confidence that he will win the elections because he has “the best program and a just cause.”
“For the first time in the history of the Republic, we have put social transformations at the center: we have lifted millions out of poverty, advanced agrarian reform, improved pensions, and expanded educational and health coverage,” Cepeda stated.
The candidate also defended Petro’s legacy: “This is the government of life, peace, and equity. We haven’t finished, but we have begun the profound change that Colombia needed. That is why we will continue this historic work with a second progressive government.” EFE
