Kathrine Frich
Election officials have not yet announced a definitive winner.
When a close foreign election hangs in the balance, international observers usually wait for the official numbers to roll in. Jumping the gun can cause serious diplomatic confusion. Yet a recent political contest has triggered a wave of global controversy after a premature victory declaration came straight from Washington.
Declaring the winner
Donald Trump took to social media to celebrate the outcome of Colombia’s presidential runoff election. The contest took place on June 21, 2026, but election officials have not yet announced a definitive winner.
That did not stop the American leader from calling the race early. “He Won, BIG!” Trump posted on Truth Social alongside preliminary vote counts.
The endorsement targeted Abelardo de la Espriella, a hard-right political outsider. According to Just the News cited by Express, preliminary results showed De la Espriella holding a razor-thin lead of 49.7 percent over left-wing Senator Iván Cepeda, who captured 48.7 percent.
Refusing to concede
Because the margin is incredibly tight, the election remains completely uncalled. Electoral authorities emphasized that a legally binding winner requires a final, audited verification process.
Cepeda has explicitly refused to concede, stating that the preliminary results are non-binding. His campaign announced plans to legally challenge the numbers from more than 30,000 voting stations during the formal scrutiny process.
Outgoing progressive President Gustavo Petro has also backed these calls for scrutiny. Meanwhile, tensions are rising on the ground, triggering street demonstrations in cities like Cali as lawyers prepare for the official canvas.
A radical platform
De la Espriella is a criminal defense lawyer and dual U.S.-Colombian citizen who has never held public office. He ran on a hard-right security platform inspired by El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, promising to build mega-prisons and launch U.S.-backed airstrikes against drug-running guerrillas.
Despite the unverified results, the Trump administration has aggressively favored the outsider. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated him on X to discuss regional security and illegal immigration.
The U.S. State Department also released an official statement backing the preliminary outcome. “This result reflects the will of the Colombian people and their commitment to democracy,” the agency stated.
According to Espriella, he already spoke directly with Trump after the vote. “The Colombian people, the masses, spoke out and we defeated the regime,” the candidate added.
Sources: Just the News, Truth Social, Express
