Colombia: Polls open in tight presidential election

Colombia: Polls open in tight presidential election May 31, 2026Voters in Colombia headed to the polls on Sunday in a tight, three-way presidential election which is expected to go to a second round. More than 40 million Colombians are eligible to vote in the poll featuring a leftist candidate pledging to expand social reforms, an independent businessman portraying himself as an outsider and a right-wing senator who could become the country's first female president. Ivan Cepeda, a 63-year-old left-leaning senator, has been leading opinion polls, but looks unlikely to overcome the 50%-plus hurdle required to secure an absolute majority. Incumbent President Gustavo Petro cannot seek another term. He has thrown his support behind Cepeda. Surveys suggest he will face a much tougher contest in a second round against either the independent former lawyer Abelardo De La Espriella (47) or the right-wing Paloma Valencia (48), who are expected to split the centrist and conservative vote on Sunday. Colombia: What do the candidates stand for? All three candidates have been campaigning on promises to tackle armed, drug-running guerrilla groups, reduce inequality and poverty and improve the country's healthcare system — albeit in different ways. Leftist Cepeda, the son of a murdered communist leader, has promised to pursue peace with illegal armed cartels through negotiations, a policy that has led to little progress under Petro. De La Espriella and Valencia, on the other hand, have both promised a tough offensive against the groups, with the former proposing the construction of 10 "mega-prisons." On poverty and health, Cepeda wants to see wealth distributed more evenly by raising taxes on high earners to fund an expansion of Colombia's healthcare system. He has also proposed gifting 1 million hectares (2.47 million ) of land to victims of the country's six-decade internal conflict. De La Espriella wants to combat inequality by focusing on better education, while Valencia believes that tax breaks for companies will create more jobs and lift Colombians out of poverty that way. Valencia has also proposed additional funding for social programs and healthcare – financed not by taxation but by renewed oil and gas exploration. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (1300 UTC), with results expected at about 8 p.m. Don't let the algorithm hide the news. If you rely on our team for trusted reporting, please take a moment to select us as your Preferred Source on Google by clicking here and hitting the "star" or "preferred" button, so you'll always see our verified news first. Edited by: Karl Sexton