The left-wing politician seeks first formal face-off ahead of June 21 runoff.

On Monday, Ivan Cepeda, the candidate of the left-wing Historical Pact party, challenged Abelardo de la Espriella, the far-right candidate of the Defenders of the Homeland movement, to hold an electoral debate ahead of the June 21 runoff, in which the two will compete for the presidency of Colombia.

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“I announce to the public that I am challenging candidate Abelardo de la Espriella to a political and electoral debate,” Cepeda wrote on X, where he added that the conditions of the event will be agreed upon by representatives of both campaigns.

The proposal marks the first formal attempt to organize a debate between the two candidates who advanced to the runoff, after presidential candidates failed to reach an agreement during the first phase of the campaign to hold a head-to-head debate.

According to preliminary figures released by the National Civil Registry, De la Espriella won 10,361,499 votes (43.74%), compared with the 9,688,361 votes (40.90%) obtained by Cepeda, a difference of 673,138 votes, equivalent to 2.84 percentage points.

On Sunday night, during a speech before supporters in Bogota, Cepeda questioned De la Espriella’s personal and professional record, reminding Colombians that the far-right candidate is a “swindler of swindlers.”

“De la Espriella represents fascism, but mafia-style fascism,” said the Historical Pact candidate, who also accused him of being misogynistic, homophobic and of embodying a return to a “parapolitical, drug-trafficking, mafia-run, plutocratic and corrupt” past.

Cepeda also argued that a De la Espriella administration would mean dismantling the main social policies promoted by President Gustavo Petro and warned that the left must “close ranks” to prevent him from coming to power.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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