Colombians Vote for New President

Colombians will elect a new president and vice president on May 31 in a vote that has been cast as a referendum on outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s policies. Colombia’s constitution bars Petro from seeking reelection. There will be 14 candidates on the ballot.

Iván Cepeda, 63, a three-term senator representing the Historical Pact coalition, is the candidate backed by Petro’s party. Cepeda has promised to strengthen the economic reforms launched by Petro, which feature major increases to the nation’s minimum wage, including a 23% increase this year, and higher taxes on wealth and corporate revenue.

He has also said he will continue to pursue peace negotiations with the nation’s remaining rebel groups, while boosting the development of Colombia’s countryside by subsidizing loans for small farmers through a state-run bank.

Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, is running as an independent and has cast himself as an outsider. He claims he is running for the presidency without the support of any of the nation’s main political parties. De la Espriella has promised to reduce state spending by up to 40% over the next four years and dismantle several government agencies, including the Ministry of Equality.

Paloma Valencia, 48, a senator from the Democratic Center party led by former President Álvaro Uribe, is backed by most of the nation’s traditional parties and by economists concerned about the growing levels of debt under the Petro administration. Valencia and de la Espriella have said they will suspend peace talks with rebel groups and confront them with greater force.

They have also promised to reduce taxes on businesses and facilitate investments in oil and gas that were blocked during the Petro administration.

If no candidate gets 50% of the vote, a runoff will be held on June 21 between the top two contenders. Cepeda has said that he will look for a “national agreement” to pursue reforms, but he has also said that if no agreement is reached he will call for a constituent assembly, a mechanism through which Colombia could rewrite its constitution.

Valencia and de la Espriella are firmly against rewriting the nation’s constitution.

2 million who live abroad. , Spain, and Venezuela. In the 2022 presidential election, 59% of Colombians registered abroad cast ballots.

6 million participated in the runoff. A 2016 peace deal between Colombia’s government and FARC led to the demobilization of more than 13,000 fighters. Several criminal groups did not participate in the agreement and some former FARC commanders also went back to the conflict after retiring for a few years.

Since the peace deal was signed, a smattering of smaller groups have been fighting over rural areas that were formerly under FARC control. The Petro administration has attempted to stage peace talks with these groups and granted them several ceasefires as an incentive to stay in negotiations.

Critics say these rebel groups have used peace talks to regroup, rearm and strengthen their grip over communities where they extort businesses and profit from illegal economies, like the cocaine trade.

According to the Red Cross, the humanitarian toll of Colombia’s armed conflict reached its worst level in a decade in 2025, with the number of displaced people doubling to 225,000 individuals. The Red Cross also noted that in 2025 there were 965 people killed or injured by explosive devices including land mines and drones, a 33% increase from the previous year.

Voting is not mandatory in Colombia.

Petro has undertaken controversial peace negotiations with the country’s remaining rebel groups while pushing for social and economic reforms that include an overhaul of the nation’s labor laws. He also has broken with previous Colombian leaders in his approach to foreign affairs by challenging the United States in areas like anti-drug policy and immigration while maintaining some co-operation with the Trump administration on these matters.