Colombia will have a second round between Abelardo de la Espriella and Iván Cepeda

The second round will pit two political projects with different visions on the country's course, with more than 50% of the tables scrutinized. On the one hand, Abelardo de la Espriella will seek to consolidate the support obtained during the first phase of the campaign. On the other hand, Iván Cepeda will try to expand his electoral base to reach the necessary majority. Campaign teams will now begin a stage focused on seeking support among the sectors that were left out of the presidential definition. Analysts believe that the behavior of those voters will play a determining role in the final result.

The results of the first round

With 62.64% of the tables reported, the electoral landscape showed the following distribution, after the leaders who are going to the second round:

• Paloma Valencia and Juan Daniel Oviedo: 6.62%
• Sergio Fajardo and Edna Bonilla: 4.04%
• Santiago Botero and Carlos Cuevas: 0.93%
• Claudia López and Leonardo Huerta: 0.78%
• Blank vote: 1.74%

The electoral authorities continued with the process of consolidating the information while the political parties maintained the monitoring of the scrutiny throughout the national territory.

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This is how the vote count of the 2026 presidential elections in the first round progressed - credit Registraduría

What is the second round of elections in Colombia?

In Colombia, the presidential election is not always decided in a single day; the electoral system contemplates a second round, a mechanism that comes into play when no candidate reaches an absolute majority in the first vote. That is, when no candidate exceeds the threshold of 50% plus one of the valid votes. The figure, established in the 1991 Constitution, seeks to prevent the country from being governed by a leader elected with reduced support compared to the total electorate. Before its implementation, it was enough to obtain the most votes to win, even without the support of the majority of citizens. When no candidate achieves that threshold, the process moves to a second election day in which only the two candidates with the most votes participate. In that new contest, the election is decided by a simple majority, which forces a reconfiguration of support and the search for the support of voters who in the first round opted for other options. The Colombian electoral system establishes that, if no candidate exceeds 50% plus one of the valid votes, the election goes to a second round between the two candidates with the most votes - credit Sergio Acero/Reuters The scheme also introduces an additional political component, as candidates who advance to the second round usually adjust strategies, open spaces for negotiation, and direct their messages towards the voters who were left out of the initial dispute, in an attempt to broaden their support base.

An example helps to size the mechanism; if in a first round a candidate obtains 35%, another 30%, a third 20% and a fourth 15%, none is victorious. The first two go to the final stage, while the votes of the others become a decisive factor in tipping the balance.

The second round applies exclusively to the presidential and vice-presidential elections in Colombia, as well as for the Mayor's Office of Bogotá under specific provisions. In the rest of the popular election positions, such as Congress, governorships and municipal mayoralties, the definition is maintained by simple majority in a single day.