Bogotá (Colombia), 22 June (LaPresse) – Abelardo de la Espriella has been declared the winner of the presidential election in Colombia. The Conservative candidate secured 49.7 per cent of the vote in the run-off, defeating the progressive Ivan Cepeda, who received 48.7 per cent of the vote. “I am here tonight to announce the most important news of my life: the Colombian people have entrusted me with the supreme honour of serving them as their next President of the Republic of Colombia,” declared de la Espriella before thousands of supporters gathered in Barranquilla, in the north of the country. “I will govern for all Colombians, without reprisals or persecution, because in a democracy there are no irreconcilable enemies.” His rival Cepeda, however, is not giving up; he considers the count to be “unofficial and non-binding” and has announced that his team will contest the results from over 30,000 polling stations. “We will not allow the social gains we have achieved to be undermined,” he said. “We will not allow democracy to be violated.”
Colombian presidential election: de la Espriella declares himself the winner; Cepeda calls for a recount
Bogotá (Colombia), 22 June (LaPresse) – Abelardo de la Espriella has been declared the winner of the presidential election in Colombia. The Conservative candidate secured 49.7 per cent of the vote in the run-off, defeating the progressive Ivan Cepeda, who received 48.7 per cent of the vote. “I am here tonight to announce the most important news of my life: the Colombian people have entrusted me with the supreme honour of serving them as their next President of the Republic of Colombia,” declared de la Espriella before thousands of supporters gathered in Barranquilla, in the north of the country. “I will govern for all Colombians, without reprisals or persecution, because in a democracy there are no irreconcilable enemies.” His rival Cepeda, however, is not giving up; he considers the count to be “unofficial and non-binding” and has announced that his team will contest the results from over 30,000 polling stations. “We will not allow the social gains we have achieved to be undermined,” he said. “We will not allow democracy to be violated.”
