REACTION: Colombia Heads Toward a Polarizing Runoff
By
AQ Editors
Voters shook up the political landscape, setting up a runoff between right-wing firebrand Abelardo De La Espriella and leftist Iván Cepeda.
Right-wing outsider Abelardo De La Espriella won Colombia’s first-round election with 43.7% of the vote, while leftist Iván Cepeda finished second with 40.9%, according to Colombia’s official preliminary vote count. They will compete for the presidency in a runoff on June 21. Mainstream conservative Paloma Valencia earned just 6.9% of the vote in a rebuke of Colombia’s traditional establishment and a reflection of the country’s polarized political landscape. Cepeda and his close ally, President Gustavo Petro, cast doubt on the...
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