Trump-endorsed right-wing candidate leads in tight Colombia presidential race

Colombian right-wing prospect Abelardo de la Espriella is leading the country's lord's day presidential rush, narrowly scraping by forward of his left-of-center rival with nearly all ballots ‌counted, as voters bet on his promises to lead a tough crackdown on crime and improve the struggling economy.

De la Espriella had 49.7 per cent of the vote, while his rival, the leftist Sen. Iván Cepeda, was some 248,000 votes behind with 48.7 per cent, according to an initial tally from the country's national registrar.

Cepeda, 63, had vowed to continue the policies of President Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and the country's first leftist president, which include state pension payments for the poor, union-backed labor ​reforms, peace talks with armed groups that have fought the state for decades and a moratorium ​on new oil projects.

De la Espriella blames Petro for the country's economic and security woes and has vowed to end peace talks with rebels and criminal groups, boost the oil and gas sector, lower taxes and reduce the size of the state by up to 40 per cent. But he ​has said he will preserve Petro's 23 per cent increase in the minimum wage, along with other popular social measures.

"It is a victory for Colombia — ⁠a change after four lost years with no ⁠clear direction," said Viviana Olivos, a 46-year-old mechanical engineer, as she gathered with other supporters of de la ‌Espriella in coastal Barranquilla, where he is expected to appear.

The 47-year-old lawyer, who has no political experience, will have to grapple with high public debt and a divided Congress, which could stymie reform proposals.

More than 41 million Colombians were eligible to vote, with more than 26.2 million casting ballots. Some 420,000 voters turned in blank ballots, usually seen as a protest vote, the registrar figures showed.

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Cepeda supporters remained hopeful that the required verification of ballots from each polling station, ⁠which in the first round showed little difference to the initial count, could give them the victory. Petro earlier posted videos on social media he said showed instances of fraud, adding later that because the race was so close, the country would need to await a final check and count of ballots.

"We are hopeful that now, with the vote count and the work of lawyers, ‌votes can be recovered," Yesin Moreno, a 32-year-old audiovisual director, said as he waited for Cepeda at an event in Bogota, the country's capital.

In upper-class neighborhoods in Bogota, supporters cheered and honked car horns.

Peace talks initiated ⁠by Petro have largely failed as armed groups have grown in power and numbers, and drug-trafficking gangs have expanded, leading to spikes in murders and extortion along the Caribbean ⁠coast.

De la Espriella has cast Petro and Cepeda, the son of a murdered communist leader, as allies of criminals, though Petro's administration says it has seized more cocaine ⁠than any other ⁠government. Cepeda has rejected the accusations, saying there is no evidence for ​them.

Cepeda has critiqued de la Espriella's work as a lawyer for people tied to right-wing paramilitary groups and corruption cases, including Alex Saab, who faces U.S. Charges for allegedly laundering money ​for ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

De la Espriella ⁠says his professional relationships do not involve any complicity or crime.

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U.S. President Donald Trump has moved to increase his country's presence and influence in the region, including by arresting Maduro, conducting deadly strikes against small boats in the Caribbean — which he accused of drug trafficking without evidence — and creating the Shield of the Americas, a military alliance of right-wing leaders pledging to fight drug trafficking.

Trump, who has publicly feuded with Petro, openly endorsed de la Espriella this month, saying the results of Sunday's race are "very important to the future of Colombia and its relationship to the ⁠United States."

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