Colombia’s president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella has accused outgoing leader Gustavo Petro of attempting to remain in power.
Petro has claimed that Espriella’s victory was fraudulent, an allegation that Espriella has pushed back against.
Espriella argued in a video shared to social media that Petro and left-wing candidate Senator Iván Cepeda have attempted to state a “a coup de etat.”
In a statement accompanying the video, the president-elect wrote, “Democracy must be respected, and the will of the people must be defended.”
“I want to address all Colombians to share my position regarding the situation our country is going through. I reiterate my commitment to the Constitution, the Rule of Law, and the mandate that millions of citizens expressed freely at the ballot box,” he said. “I call on the institutions, the Public Force, the international community, and all Colombians to remain steadfast in defending democracy and constitutional order. I also announce decisions related to the transition process, convinced that the will of the people must be respected without exception.”
“God, the vote, and democracy have spoken. August 7 is drawing ever closer,” he declared. “Stand Firm for Democracy. Stand Firm for the Homeland.”
His claims come as Petro alleged on Monday that an Israeli firm named BlackCube was behind a scheme to rig algorithms and vary electoral results. “The algorithms that rigged the electoral result were used with the electoral census of those who never vote, to be replaced by voters who could do so several times or without voters in homogeneous jury polling stations,” he said.
