BOGOTA, Colombia — Deeply divided voters in Colombia are choosing their next president in a runoff Sunday that pits a progressive against a President Trump-backed conservative outsider, with both candidates tapping into fears of a renewed internal conflict.

The options before voters are business owner and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and Iván Cepeda, a lawmaker and heir to the political movement of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, the nation’s first leftist leader. The two defeated nine other contenders in a May 31 vote.

Both are pitching strategies that they say will prevent the South American country from experiencing the nonstop merciless violence, such as car bombs, kidnappings, disappearances and forced displacements, that Colombians lived with in previous decades.

De la Espriella is proposing a heavy-handed approach that has earned him Trump’s endorsement. Cepeda is promising to continue Petro’s efforts, including attempts at establishing dialogue with multiple illegal armed groups, even though those efforts have largely failed under Petro.

The two candidates also are offering differing solutions for the country’s struggling health system, ballooning public debt and entrenched corruption.

“Right now, what worries me is the polarization that exists between us: There are two very extreme sides, and the violence is concerning,” John Manrique, a lawyer in the capital, Bogota, said as he walked his dog.

“What I hope is that people accept who won,” he added. “Let’s accept it, regardless of the side, and try to reach a social consensus. … Let’s not go out and fight.”

President again sows doubts in the results

In the first round, Cepeda earned 41% of the vote, while De la Espriella finished first with 44%, according to official results. Petro, without evidence, sowed doubts in the results after Cepeda, who had consistently led polls ahead of the May vote, came in second.

Petro reiterated his allegations on Sunday.

“We must protect the vote, undoubtedly,” he said shortly before polls opened.

His movement will provide details about “all the accounts and funds that were transacted from abroad,” Petro added. Actors, whom he did not identify, “tried to enslave the people of Colombia by taking away their freedom to decide.”

More than 41 million people are eligible to vote. Polls will remain open until 4 p.m. local time.

Yolanda Hernández, 49, voted early Sunday before she started selling black ink pens outside a Bogota voting center. Clients, she said, buy the pens because ink cannot be erased from paper ballots, which reduces the possibility of fraud.

Hernández, who recycles trash for a living, voted for Petro in 2022 but cast her ballot for De la Espriella this time. Though she said that congressional gridlock was to blame for Petro’s inability to deliver on promises meant to help the poor, she said Colombia cannot afford another four years under his vision for the country.

“We want change in Colombia because it’s always the same violence, always the same thing,” Hernández said. Petro, she added, “said he was going to lower the cost of services, that he was going to lower the price of food, and everything is more expensive.”

Fighting between rebel groups

The election comes 10 years after Colombia signed a historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that had offered hope to break the nation’s vicious cycle of fighting between rebel groups and the government.

But violence has since roared back, particularly as most rebel groups abandoned their ideologically driven fight for the financial benefits of drug trafficking.

Last year, authorities recorded 14,780 homicides, the most since at least 2015 and driven by clashes among illegal armed groups. Among those killed was conservative presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe. Extortion has also soared, reaching 13,417 cases in 2025, more than double the number tallied in 2015.

De la Espriella, a political newcomer nicknamed “El Tigre,” has promised to fiercely go after criminals and build 10 mega-prisons, emulating the policies of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele that have lowered homicide rates but have fueled accusations of human rights abuses.

Cepeda wants to carry on Petro’s fraught signature plan to achieve “total peace” by negotiating pacts with guerrillas and criminal gangs. The heavily criticized strategy that Petro kicked off in 2022 took until Thursday to see the first armed group — one with about 100 members — give up its weapons and begin a resettlement process that will lead to their reintegration into civilian life. Colombia’s illegal groups have more than 27,000 members.

Fernando Lozano, 34, decided to vote for the first time in a decade because of the vastly different proposals between Cepeda and De la Espriella, particularly the latter’s promises to face off with armed groups.

“Anyone would think it’s not a bad thing to be able to end all this once and for all. But it’s not as easy as it seems,” Lozano said, adding that the combative approach already failed before and could only lead to more violence if tried again. “You can’t just go there and confront them and expect everything to be resolved in six months. That takes years.”

The lead-up to the runoff has seen an increase in verbal sparring between the candidates as well as accusations of fraud, vote-buying and intimidation.

Cepeda filed a complaint with the Colombian attorney general’s office and the International Criminal Court against De la Espriella, accusing him of having ties to paramilitary groups. De la Espriella has denied the accusation.

Cano and Suárez write for the Associated Press.

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