Ruptly
"Colombians in Bogota shared their views after Sunday's election day as Abelardo de la Espriella won the first round of the vote. "The other candidates who lost, who also got votes, it depends on who they join, that's where the alliances come in," a local said on Monday. "We have a spillover coming down from Trump, where the closet fascist came out of the closet and here [in Colombia] people have always been very conservative," another local stated as he commented on the result. Juan Salamanca, a Colombian living abroad, said he still could not believe Sunday's results and compared the situation in the country with Milei's Argentina, where he said he suffered. With 43.74% of the vote - more than 10 million ballots - De la Espriella led the race, while Ivan Cepeda, representing the ruling Historic Pact coalition, secured 40.90%. Petro said on Sunday that he does not recognise the preliminary vote count released after election day, arguing in a post on X that the figures have no 'binding force.' The Colombian leader alleged that the vote-counting software used by private contractor Hermanos Bautista included roughly 800,000 individuals who were not registered in the official electoral roll. He added that he would only recognise results certified by electoral scrutiny commissions overseen by judges. De la Espriella, who is running as an independent under a movement called Defensores de la Patria (Defenders of the Homeland), urged Petro to accept 'the result of democracy.' The result marks a surprise first-place finish for de la Espriella, a lawyer and political outsider running on a hardline security platform. Cepeda, a longtime senator and ally of President Petro, is campaigning on peace negotiations, social reform and continuity with parts of the current government’s agenda. As neither candidate won the outright majority required for victory, Colombians will return to the polls on June 21 for a runoff election to decide the country's next president. "
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