De la Espriella Leads Voter Intention for Colombia's Runoff Election

Far-right presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella is leading in voter intention for Colombia's upcoming second-round election, according to a new poll. The survey, released Tuesday, shows De la Espriella with 50.3% support for the June 21 runoff, ahead of his opponent Cepeda, who garnered 42.6%.

This poll marks the first released since the initial round of voting, where De la Espriella, representing the Defensores de la Patria movement, emerged as the top vote-getter. He secured 10.3 million votes, or 43.74%, narrowly surpassing Cepeda of the Pacto Histórico, the party of current President Gustavo Petro, who received 9.6 million votes (40.90%). The margin in the first round was 2.84 percentage points, a narrower gap than the 7.7 points indicated in the latest poll.

The AtlasIntel survey, conducted between June 1 and 2 with 2,030 respondents across Colombia, also revealed that 3.7% of those polled intend to cast a blank vote in the second round, while 2.9% remain undecided. The poll has a margin of error of 2%.

Further insights from the survey indicate significant voter rejection of one candidate over the other. When asked which candidate they would not vote for, 56.6% of respondents rejected Cepeda, compared to 40.3% who rejected De la Espriella. The poll also touched on President Petro's performance, with 53.2% disapproving of his handling of the country, against 42.7% who approve.