BOGOTA, June 23, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - An EU election observer mission to Colombia on Tuesday said it detected no irregularities in the tightly fought presidential election won by hard-right Abelardo de la Espriella over the weekend.

The White House-backed lawyer, who has pledged to be tough on crime and drug trafficking, won the runoff by less than one percentage point on Sunday.

Defeated leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda said he will acknowledge De la Espriella's victory only after vote counting is finished.

That tally is "practically complete," the European Union's Election Observation Mission to Colombia (MOE) said Tuesday.

"We have not observed any irregularities" in the counting of votes, MOE chief Esteban Gonzalez Pons said in response to an AFP question.

De la Espriella won just over 250,000 more votes than Cepeda did.

Leftist Colombians have taken to the streets to protest the election result, and some have posted photos of tally sheets online to compare alleged irregularities.

Preliminary count results and the final tally match 99.9 percent of the time, according to the EU mission's monitoring efforts.

The US-based Carter Center also endorsed the transparency of Colombia's election agency.

Both organizations noted it was the highest electoral turnout in the South American country's history -- over 63 percent.

Despite the polarization and violence that had characterized the run-up to elections, the MOE highlighted the "strength" of Colombian democracy.

De la Espriella, who received US President Donald Trump's enthusiastic backing, will take power from leftist President Gustavo Petro in August.