Overview
- Campaigning closed with mass rallies on May 24–25 and final polls show leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda narrowly leading ahead of the May 31 vote with most firms projecting a June 21 runoff.
- A sharp surge in political violence — including car bombs, explosive drones and last year’s assassination of a presidential hopeful — has produced threats to candidates and raised concerns that intimidation could lower turnout or disrupt voting.
- Cepeda has pledged to extend Gustavo Petro’s social programs and pursue peace talks with armed groups while critics blame Petro’s ‘total peace’ approach for failing to demobilize dissident FARC factions and other criminal networks.
- Right‑wing outsider Abelardo De La Espriella is polling close behind Cepeda on a hardline security and pro‑investment platform and faces scrutiny for representing controversial clients such as Alex Saab, while conservative Paloma Valencia trails in third with a Uribe‑backed security agenda.
- Whoever wins will inherit steep challenges including a fiscal deficit near 7% of GDP, persistent inequality and informal work, and the need to weaken powerful drug‑linked armed groups that have grown stronger since the 2016 FARC agreement.