Outgoing Marxist President of Colombia Gustavo Petro refused to acknowledge the victory of his successor, conservative President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, on Monday because he allegedly “did not win” the election.
Petro claimed, without evidence, that “algorithmic fraud” with “foreign funding” was committed in the election and that his appointed successor, far-left Senator Iván Cepeda, is the “president of Colombia.” Despite Petro’s wild claims, local and international organizations have confirmed that de la Espriella is the legitimate winner of the free and fair election.
Gustavo Petro is Colombia’s first leftist president ever and a proud former member of the Marxist M19 terrorist group. Petro is presently in the final month of his four-year term, as he is set to leave office on August 7, 2026. On that day, President-elect de la Espriella will take office as the next head of state of the South American nation. Petro is term-limited and unable to run for president of Colombia, as the nation’s constitution strictly states that an elected president may only serve for one four-year term and cannot be reelected.
President-elect de la Espriella defeated Sen. Cepeda in the June 21 presidential runoff election. Electoral observers from international organizations such as the European Union and the Organization of American States (OAS) have endorsed the results and expressed that no irregularities were detected in the free and fair election. Colombia’s electoral system has been praised by international politicians — including American ones — for its transparency, efficacy, and expeditiousness, as it is capable of delivering rapid and precise vote counts within hours.
Despite the overwhelming endorsement of Colombia’s 2026 presidential election as a free and fair democratic event, President Petro has repeatedly claimed that “fraud” was committed in favor of de la Espriella during the process. Petro has also accused Israel of allegedly “compromising” the electoral results, based only on the dubious claim that it is “the only entity in the world capable of doing that.”
Most of Petro’s wild accusations — which he has yet to present evidence of at press time — target Thomas Greg & Sons, the private security company that administered the 2026 presidential election process. The company has an over six-decade-old presence in Colombia and has provided numerous services to the South American nation. Despite his refusal to acknowledge the defeat of his chosen far-left successor, Petro reluctantly announced the start of the transition process with the incoming de la Espriella administration in late June — an announcement he made in what is now known as one of his longest and most unhinged social media rants to date.
On Monday, however, Petro published a new diatribe claiming that “philosopher Iván Cepeda” was allegedly the actual “winner” of the June 21 runoff election and is thus the “President of Colombia according to the decision of the Colombians.”
Petro, who once again failed to present evidence to substantiate his “fraud” accusations, claimed to be in possession of information that, according to him, points to an “IP server located in Los Angeles, California, property of the Bautista brothers,” the owners of Thomas Greg & Sons. Said server, according to the outgoing president, was part of the vote-counting process and saw the use of “algorithms” that ” substantially skewed the vote in Abelardo’s favor.”
“The algorithms that rigged the election results were applied to the voter rolls by replacing voters who never vote with voters who could vote multiple times, or by leaving polling stations with homogeneous election committees without any voters at all,” Petro claimed in his rant.
“The polling stations in the area where Abelardo received 177,000 more votes than Cepeda have poll workers from Colombia who are not residents of the U.S. or Spain, which is illegal, as well as voters brought in for the World Cup who were able to cast seven votes at polling stations under the names of people who never vote,” he added.
“The same thing happened in several regions of Antioquia and Medellín, in Norte de Santander, and at polling stations in northern Bogotá. That’s why my son found out that someone had already voted in his name,” he continued.
“The president of Colombia does not recognize the legitimacy of the incoming government. Abelardo did not win the election,” Petro wrote, calling upon his supporters to “to raise the cry for national independence in all public squares” on July 20 — a date he had previously marked for his “early farewell” rally.
President-elect de la Espriella responded to Petro’s claims by ordering the suspension of the handover transition process between his team and Petro’s “corrupt government,” accusing the outgoing Petro administration of seeking to “destroy Colombia” with its actions. De la Espriella emphasized that his duty is to protect Colombia’s interests and guarantee a “serious, transparent transition at the service of Colombians, never to legitimize the disaster or the disregard for the constitutional order.”
“This [Tuesday] morning, I will address the Nation through my social media to explain to all Colombians the reasons for this decision and the measures I will take immediately,” he wrote in a Tuesday morning social media post.
De la Espriella has not publicly commented further on the matter at press time.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.