After the narrow victory of Abelardo De la Espriella, Colombia begins a tense transition full of doubts

After a night of celebrations and also protests in some neighborhoods of Bogotá and other cities, after the very close victory of the right-wing populist De la Espriella over the ruling social democratic Ivan Cepedaa new stage now opens for the country.

While the ruling party report irregularities in the vote count and asks the verification of more than 33,000 voting stationsthe libertarian Abelardo De la Espriella already appears as president-elect and promises to begin building the “Miracle Homeland” that he had as his motto in recent months.

With 99.99% of the tables informed in the preliminary count of the National Registry, the entity that organizes the elections, De la Espriella, of the Defenders of the Homeland movement, obtained 12,959,542 votes (49.66%), and Cepeda, of the Historical Pact, garnered 12,708,712 votes (48.70%).

The difference, of just 250,830 votes (0.96 percentage points), in a country of 53 million inhabitants, is much lower than what the polls predicted and less than half of the 673,138 votes with which the libertarian won in the first round on May 31, when he won with 43.78% against 70.98% of Senator Cepeda.

It opens now a misty road towards a presidency that marks a radical turn with respect to the current Executive – the first on the left in this country – and also with the previous conservative governments that have alternated in power in the last century in Colombia.

The 47-year-old lawyer and businessman who presents himself as the “Tiger” who will come to sweep away the old politics and bring “order” to the country – in security, in public finances, in traditional family values ​​– promised on Sunday night govern “for all Colombians.”

After an aggressive, divisive and controversial campaign, in front of a crowd of followers in Barranquilla, on the north coast of the country, De la Espriella showed a change in his speech and He lowered the tone of confrontation.

“A new era begins, a change of order, the homeland miracle,” he said in his first speech after the official count of the data, and when leaders from across the region and US President Donald Trump They had already sent him congratulatory messages.

“Here is your tiger, here is your president,” De la Espriella introduced himself, wearing the shirt of the Colombian soccer team and surrounded by his wife Ana Lucía Pineda and his four children – all dressed alike – behind a booth. bulletproof glassas was shown in many of his campaign events.

While President Petro sent a flood of messages on doubts about the transparency of the electoral processand shortly after Cepeda appeared at his campaign command to say that he accepts the preliminary count but does not recognize it as definitive – the final count will be known this week, but no significant changes are expected – De la Espriella tried to generate confidence in a totally divided population.

He assured that “the confrontation” ends and the “service to the country” begins and that “the horrible night has ceased,” in relation to the current government.

“To those who have sown violence, terror, drug trafficking and corruption during all these years, your time is up“he warned.

The right-wing leader, an admirer of Trump and Javier Milei, took the opportunity to send a message to Petro and Cepeda: “Respect the will of the Colombian people. By not knowing the result of the polls, you are not challenging the tiger, you are challenging millions of Colombians,” he assured.

“Refrain from unleashing a social fire,” asked the future president. “Prepare your bags to exercise the opposition”.

This Monday morning, Cepeda called a press conference at the headquarters of his party, the Historical Pact, in the Teusaquillo neighborhood, in Bogotá. From there, in his usual calm, serene manner, the 63-year-old philosopher and politician responded to De la Espriella: “Don’t threaten us.”

“We are a very large political movement, we are half of this country in political terms, we have a long history of resistance,” said Petro’s political leader, after reiterating that he awaits the result of the final scrutiny, since the pre-count “is neither definitive nor binding.”

“We are very seasoned, we have defeated authoritarian politicians,” Cepeda recalled. And, in a message to “candidate De la Espriella”, he remarked: “Neither their roars nor their screams scare us. In us you will find open opposition to dialogue.”

After many analysts, politicians and ordinary citizens expressed fears about the direction that a De la Espriella government could take, which presented controversial proposals especially in relation to security, he clarified: “I swear to defend the Constitution with extreme coherence to prevent it from being destroyed, I swear to defend it from those who seek to change it for tyranny,” and assured that there will be no persecution of his political opponents.

The elected president highlighted that It will not be a crime to think differently and that will represent the union. He also assured that there will be no room for corruption. “Colombia is a democracy again,” he said. “I am trained in the laws, respectful of the independence of the courts, of Congress,” he remarked.

De la Espriella himself He slipped in his campaign that he could govern by decree if he does not obtain support to implement some of the most drastic measures he proposes in the fight against crime and drug trafficking, when the country is going through the worst wave of violence in the last decade.

But his narrow lead takes away room for his more radical proposals. will face strong opposition in Congress and in the streets and, as several analysts have pointed out, Clarion Here, it will not be easy for him to undertake the drastic adjustment that he proposes in the face of an increasingly deepening fiscal crisis nor to advance in proposals such as fumigating coca crops or bombing boats of alleged drug traffickers, as he has proposed during the campaign.

His victory was received with protests in cities like Bogotá and Cali where groups of protesters burned American flags and set up barricades. The country woke up this Monday without incident and with its usual rhythm, but the discontent of half of the population who did not vote for De la Espriella will surely emerge in the coming weeks.

Now big questions arise about what a De la Espriella government will really be like. More than a detailed program – the public policy explanations were delegated to his running mate José Manuel Restrepo – the “Tigre” campaign used the existential threat language: He presented himself as the savior of the country against communism; the defender of freedom and order in the face of chaos and narcoterrorism; the representative of traditional family values.

While Petro and his entourage await the final scrutiny, the future president must begin to outline a clear roadmap.