The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, has conveyed his congratulations to the Colombian far-right politician Abelardo de la Espriella for his "great victory" in the first round of the presidential elections held this Sunday in Colombia, and has presented this result as an "opportunity" for the country to "recover" "freedom, prosperity, and sovereignty".
"Congratulations, friend Abelardo, on your great victory in the first round of the presidential elections in Colombia," Abascal stated in a message disseminated on social media, where he emphasized that Colombians "have in the firmness and bravery of the 'Tigre' --the designation with which the far-right politician has been identified during the electoral campaign-- a "historic opportunity for their nation to recover the freedom, prosperity, and sovereignty that have been taken from them".
According to the latest data from the Colombian Registry, De la Espriella won this Sunday with 43.74% of the votes, ahead of the leftist Iván Cepeda, who obtained 40.90% and has the support of President Gustavo Petro, the occupant of the Casa de Nariño. With 99.9% of the count completed, both candidates will face each other in a second round scheduled for June 21.
However, the head of the Latin American Executive has questioned on social media "the results of the pre-count of the private firm of the Bautista brothers," owners of the company Thomas Greg & Sons, a participant in the process, because, he argued, "the algorithms of the counting and scrutiny software, which should have remained static, were changed three times in the last week and added 800,000 more identification numbers of people who are not in the official presented census".