Right-wing outsider poised to win Colombia election

What happened

Abelardo de la Espriella, a right-wing lawyer with no political experience, declared victory in Colombia’s presidential runoff Sunday night. With 99.9% of votes counted from the election, de la Espriella had 49.7% while 48.7% went for leftist Sen. Iván Cepeda, who suggested he would challenge the result.

Who said what

A victory by de la Espriella, a dual Colombian-U.S. citizen who “transformed himself from sharply dressed Miami lawyer to populist in a soccer jersey and a straw hat,” would “return Colombia to conservative rule after four years under Gustavo Petro, the country’s first leftist president,” The New York Times said. It would also “advance Latin America’s broader shift to the right” in recent years. De la Espriella, endorsed by President Donald Trump, has “promised a heavy-handed approach to crime-fighting, including drug trafficking,” The Associated Press said. He vowed to end Petro’s peace negotiations with armed groups and “build mega-prisons.”

What next?

The winner, to be announced after a “final verified count, overseen by notaries and judges,” will begin a four-year term on Aug. 7, Reuters said. De la Espriella would likely have to “water down some of his proposals” due to the “closeness of the race” and the “divided Congress” in which Cepeda’s Historic Pact party has a plurality of seats in both chambers.

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