Colombia's presidential candidates Ivan Cepeda, of the Pacto Historico party, speaks during a press conference in Bogota on May 21, 2026. Colombia is to hold presidential elections on May 31. (Photo by Luis ACOSTA / AFP via Getty Images) Colombia's presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, of the Defensores de la Patria party, speaks behind bulletproof glass during his closing campaign rally in Medellin, Colombia on May 24, 2026. Colombia will hold presidential elections on May 31. (Photo by Jaime SALDARRIAGA / AFP via Getty Images) Colombian opposition senator Paloma Valencia delivers a speech a day after the inauguration of leftist Gustavo Petro as President in Bogota, on August 8, 2022. Gustavo Petro, the first left-wing president in Colombia's history, was sworn in on Sunday in front of hundreds of thousands of people in Bogota, calling on armed groups to sign peace and end the "war against drugs". (Photo by DANIEL MUNOZ / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images) (Credit: AFP via Getty Images)
When Colombians head to the polls this Sunday, May 31, they will do so amid one of the most heavily guarded elections in the country's recent history. Following weeks of escalating pre-electoral violence that claimed the lives of campaign workers and left multiple candidates under death threat, the government has rolled out a comprehensive security architecture designed to protect both voters and the democratic process itself — and to prove that the dates enshrined in the constitution are, as National Registrar Hernán Peñagos insisted, simply immovable.
"Plan Democracia 2026": An Army at the Ballot Box
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