Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with a donation.

Abelardo de la Espriella, a far-right millionaire backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, declared victory in Colombia’s presidential runoff late Sunday as preliminary results showed him leading by less than one percentage point with more than 99% of the vote tallied.

Despite the narrow margin, Trump — who is notorious for lying about elections — falsely declared on Truth Social that De la Espriella won “BIG” as the far-right candidate’s opponent, leftist Sen. Iván Cepeda, said the results were “unofficial.” Both Cepeda and incumbent Colombian President Gustavo Petro signaled that they would challenge vote counts.

“It is an abuse to declare a president through the media when the scrutiny is still ongoing,” Petro wrote on X as interim results showed De la Espriella with 49.66% of the vote to Cepeda’s 48.7%.

In the run up to Sunday’s contest, Petro, international observers, and Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. sounded alarm about the Trump........

© Truthout