The political right continues to gain ground in Latin America

A leftist senator and a rightwing populist outsider who calls himself “The Tiger” will go to a run-off presidential election in Colombia this month after no candidate won outright in the first round of voting on Sunday.

Iván Cepeda, a close ally of outgoing leftist president Gustavo Petro, will face Abelardo de la Espriella, a combative former criminal defence lawyer who won the largest share of the vote on Sunday with 10.3mn votes, a 43.7 per cent share, though he fell short of the 50 per cent plus one required to win outright.

Cepeda came in second with 9.6mn votes, a 40.9 per cent share, with 99.9 per cent of ballots counted on Sunday evening. No other candidate reached 7 per cent of the vote.

Here is more from the FT.   Note the right-wing candidate was not expected to do this well, though at current margins I am not sure why people keep ending up surprised.