BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia 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.
A former member of Colombia’s M-19 guerrilla group which fought for social justice in the 1970s and '80s, Petro, 66, 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.
The fate of these policies hangs in the balance as voters head to the polls, testing Petro’s assertion that “the people will decide if the revolution is defeated or if it moves forward.”
Here is what to know about Colombia’s presidential election.
There will be 14 candidates on the ballot, but the election has basically turned into a three-horse race.
Colombia’s constitution bars Petro from seeking reelection. His party, the Historical Pact, will be represented by Iván Cepeda, 63, a three-term senator known for defending the victims of state crimes during Colombia’s decades-long conflict.
One of Cepeda’s main rivals is Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, a bombastic lawyer nicknamed “The Tiger” who 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’s high-profile clients have included business owners accused of money laundering, a sex worker who denounced illegal conduct by U.S. Secret Service agents and an acid attack survivor whose case inspired legislation that heavily penalizes these kinds of attacks, which are usually waged against women.
Another candidate with considerable support is Paloma Valencia, 48, a senator who represents the Democratic Center, the party led by influential former President Álvaro Uribe. Valencia’s campaign is backed by most of the nation’s traditional parties and by economists who are concerned about the growing levels of debt under the Petro administration and would like to see Colombia return to more orthodox policies.
If no candidate gets 50% of the vote, a runoff will be held June 21 between the top two contenders.
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.
The senator 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.
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. Critics argue this would pose a threat to Colombia’s democracy by undermining the independence of the nation’s Congress and judiciary.
Valencia and De la Espriella are firmly against rewriting the nation’s constitution. These candidates have also said they will suspend peace talks with rebel groups and confront them with greater force.
The two have also promised to reduce taxes on businesses and facilitate investments in oil and gas that were blocked during the Petro administration.
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, an agency created under Petro to tackle discrimination of ethnic minorities and promote the economic inclusion of underprivileged groups.
There are more than 41.2 million registered voters, including 1.2 million people who live abroad. This makes it the third largest presidential election in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico. Voting is not mandatory.
More than half of Colombians registered to vote abroad live in three countries: the U.S., Spain and Venezuela. In the last presidential election in 2022, 59% of Colombians registered abroad cast their ballots, according to the National Registrar's Office.
In 2022, 21.3 million voters cast their ballots in the first round of the presidential election, and 22.6 million people participated in the runoff election, according to the National Registrar's Office.
A 2016 peace deal between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, led to the demobilization of more than 13,000 fighters.
But 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.
But 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 last year, with the number of displaced people doubling in 2025 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, 33% more cases than the previous year.
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