Colombian right-wing candidate Abelardo De La Espriella has clinched a narrow victory in the presidential election, according to an initial ballot count, as voters bet on his Donald Trump-endorsed promise of a crackdown on crime and a stronger economy.
De La Espriella had 49.66 per cent of the vote while his rival, Senator Ivan Cepeda, trailed by some 250,000 votes at 48.70 per cent, according to an initial tally of the runoff election from the country's national registrar on Sunday.
Cepeda, 63, had vowed to continue the policies of President Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and the country's first leftist president, including state pension payments for the poor, union-backed labour reforms, a moratorium on new oil projects, and peace talks with armed groups that have fought the state for decades.
