Far-right millionaire Abelardo de la Espriella wins Colombia’s presidential runoff

Leftwing opponent alleges vote count irregularities after Trump-endorsed lawyer secures narrow majority

The Trump-admiring far-right millionaire lawyer and self-styled “outsider” Abelardo de la Espriella has won Colombia’s presidential runoff, defeating the leftwing senator Iván Cepeda.

With 99.65% of ballots counted in the preliminary vote tally, de la Espriella had secured 12.91m votes, or 49.65%, just 248,310 more than Cepeda, who received 12.67m votes, or 48.7%. A further 1.6% of ballots were cast blank.