As per the Colombian constitution, the President has to get 50 per cent of the votes to get elected straightaway. If the candidates fail, then there will be a runoff between the top two candidates. So Espriella will be facing Cepeda in the run off on June 21. The Trump loyalist’s advantage is that the third candidate Valencia has endorsed him with 7 per cent of her votes. So Espriella can command the support of 50.7 per cent of the votes of May 31 polls. That gives him a 7.7 per cent advantage as against the left wing Cepeda.

But in the next three weeks of campaign, Cepeda and President Petro are expected to appeal to the common voters to consider supporting Cepeda in the run off on the basis of the welfare programme of the ruling Left coalition. If this campaign can draw a substantial number of pro right voters to the ruling coalition side, there is a slim chance of Cepeda scraping through. But the experienced analysts feel that it is difficult for Cepeda to win taking account the fact that there is a possibility of the entire right wing votes getting united behind Espriella.

In last Chile elections, similar situation happened. In the first round. The ruling left coalition’s communist candidate was the number one but in the runoff, she was defeated because the third right candidate endorsed his support to the second rightwing candidate and this led to total anti Left consolidation. The communist candidate of the left coalition lost in 2025 presidential polls.

The campaign was plagued with violence, including drone strikes, kidnappings, homicides and the assassination of a presidential candidate at a rally last year. In 2025, Trump also had a spat with Leftist President Petro and he commented that the Leftie was not fit to rule. From then on, Trump administration encouraged and financed through various ways the right wing candidates.

After topping the vote, De La Espriella said in the runoff he would "defeat tyranny, absolutism", calling the result a historic verdict. The opinion polls before May 31 elections predicted Cepeda to be the front runner. So the results came as a big relief to the right wing candidate and he addressed rallies with big confidence as if he was already elected as a President.

President Petro, who endorsed Cepeda, said he did not "accept the preliminary count results" and that he would wait for final results reviewed by judges. He alleged irregularities in the vote, including claiming that "hundreds of thousands of votes were added". The electoral authorities however denied any manipulation and defended the results after counting.

Cepeda was actively involved in the peace talks that led to a historic deal in 2016 between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla group, which led to the disarmament of thousands of rebel fighters.

He is often described as an architect of the "total peace" strategy of President Petro, Colombia first left-wing president, which prioritises dialogue and negotiations with armed groups during ceasefires, over military intervention

The economy has grown, and Petro increased the minimum wage significantly, though about one in three Colombians still live in poverty.

Cepeda has pledged economic reforms if elected, including expanding welfare benefits and handing land to victims of internal conflict.

De La Espriella is a lawyer and businessman who dubs himself "El Tigre", the tiger. He has heavily criticised Petro's negotiations with armed groups and advocated a tough military crackdown on crime, including closer co-operation with the United States, bombing cartels with US support, more powers for the military and possible mass trials.

He has pledged to build 10 mega-prisons in the jungle in the style of El Salvador's hardline right-wing President Nayib Bukele who, many commentators have observed, De La Espriella has modelled his beard as well as some of his policies on. He has also said he would drastically shrink the state.

Trump has adopted a muscular foreign policy approach to Latin America: seizing Venezuela's former leader Nicolás Maduro in a military raid, striking alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, imposing an oil blockade on Cuba and creating a "Shield of the Americas" security alliance with right-leaning leaders in the region earlier this year to tackle cartels.

Petro and Trump have clashed and regularly publicly insulted each other over issues including drug-trafficking and US intervention in the region, though relations improved after a meeting at the White House in February. However, anti-narcotics co-operation largely continued during these periods.

Cepeda, like Petro, has insisted that Colombia should not be a "vassal state" to the US, whereas De La Espriella has expressed a desire to strengthen the security alliance with the US and ideologically aligns himself as closer to Trump. Trump has not openly endorsed a candidate in this election, but Espriella claimed during first round campaign that he was a Trump man and Columbia will undergo thorough transformation towards a leading economy with U.S. help if he wins.

Trump has already announced his doctrine for Latin America during his second tenure. He is working for installing presidents loyal to him as the head of the nations which still have not right wing governments. If Columbia elects Espriella on June 21, Trump will have under his fold one more country of Latin America- Columbia which in 2022 polls for the first time elected Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and a Marxist as the new President. (IPA Service)