Colombia's 2026 Presidential Election: The Candidates

Latin America Correspondent Jon Bonfiglio with a new series on Colombia's general election, with a look at the main candidates for the presidency. 

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to our Colombian election special series, where today we’re going to look at the key candidates. Before we do, though, a reminder that the first round on Sunday 31st May is only decisive if a candidate polls above 50%  (almost impossible, truth be told), and if nobody does, then the top two candidates go to a runoff which will be held on the 21st June. The new president will take office on the 7th August. A pretty quick turnaround, by Latin American standards. 

Also, contextually, it’s important to remind ourselves that four years ago, Colombia elected the first leftist president in its history, Gustavo Petro, in what was a landmark moment for the country. Petro is also constitutionally barred from running for a second term. 

Of the main candidates, Iván Cepeda, currently leads the polls and seems certain to make the second round. He is - to all extents and purposes - the continuity candidate, being a leftist from within Petro’s own party, and has pledged to continue his agenda. Cepeda has been a figure of the Colombian left all his life, His parents were both members of the Colombian Communist party, which necessarily meant that they were forced into exile for much of his youth, and in 1994, his father, who was then a senator, was assassinated by state forces. Thereafter, Cepeda was a key figure in movements pursuing justice for victims of state crimes before his election to office, first to the Chamber of Representatives and 2014 election to the Senate. He is also a prominent proponent of the ongoing de-escalation of conflict with paramilitaries, a signature policy of Petro’s, also known as the Total Peace plan. 

After Cepeda, there are two other candidates with a chance of reaching the second round. The first of these, Abelardo de la Espriella is a far-right lawyer who is pursuing policies in line with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele - haven't we said before how Bukele is proving to be a paradigm standard for the new Latin American right? Of course he is also the figure most likely to be backed by Trump, as and when we see an intervention. 

Interestingly, de la Espriella doesn’t just follow Bukele in policies, but also in style, describing himself as an outsider candidate, with slick hair, who goes by the moniker of The Tiger - and of course - we live in 2026 - he is highly adept at using social media to propagate a particular image of himself and his candidacy. Needless to say that he is also allied to the military and evangelism. 

And finally we have Paloma Valencia, of the center right, who comes from a political family and is a candidate moulded in the image of the inescapable figure of previous president Alvaro Uribe. In fact, she’s regularly described herself as 100% Uribista and has made moves to reinclude him in government, despite his recent conviction. Both she and Uribe are strident critics of the 2016 peace deal. Her conventional center right candidacy proposes a reduced state and lower taxes. 

Although Cepeda is in the lead, whoever of Valencia and de la Espriella is eliminated from the first round will likely see most of their votes go to the other remaining right-wing candidate, making the second round much more of a toss-up.

In the next part in the series, though, in a couple of days, we’re going to be looking at all these numbers and breaking everything down. For now, take care everyone, and talk soon.