Trump-backed millionaire candidate wins razor-tight Colombian presidential poll, swinging country to right

A flamboyant US-backed lawyer who has never held public office narrowly won Colombia's presidential runoff Sunday, swinging the country hard to the right on a promise to wage war against drug-running guerrilla groups.

With more than 99 percent of polling centers reporting, Abelardo de la Espriella had 49.65 percent of the vote, an unassailable lead over his rival, left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda who trailed at 48.70 percent.

In Bogota, De la Espriella supporters wearing the canary yellow national football jersey he adopted as a campaign uniform waved flags and blew horns as victory became clear.

But only a few hundred thousand votes separated the two candidates after a hyper-fractious campaign that was marred by guerrilla bomb attacks, hundreds of threats against candidates and the murder of a leading conservative presidential hopeful.

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The 47-year-old's victory is likely to improve strained relations with Washington -- which has provided the South American nation with billions of dollars in military aid.

De la Espriella had won US President Donald Trump's "complete and total endorsement," and his victory extends a wave of rightist candidates who have swept to power across Latin America.

But his electoral win is also likely to test Colombia's fragile decade-old peace process which ended the conflict with FARC guerrillas that killed a quarter of a million people.

During the campaign, the dual US-Colombian national, who calls himself "The Tiger," told AFP that he would immediately end peace talks with dissident groups who refused to sign the 2016 accord and launch a 90-day campaign of US-backed airstrikes against them.

He also advocates for the right to carry arms, has vowed to construct mega-prisons, frack gas, scale back the state and dollarize the economy.

"I'm very happy" said 30-year-old "El Tigre" supporter Daniela Oliveros in Barranquilla.

"I believe a lot in the country, I believe a lot in freedom. And Abelardo, at this moment, is giving us above all a sense of security, employment, and dignity" she said.

De la Espriella's victory marks a return to power for Colombia's right wing, which for all but four of the last 200 years has ruled the country.

'Thirst for power' -

In the ten years since the peace accord was signed, much of Colombia has prospered.

But cartels and dissident guerrilla groups still control pockets of the country, cocaine exports are at an all-time high and Colombia remains one of the world's most economically unequal countries.

Cepeda, aged 63, had appealed to many worse-off Colombians who wanted a more equal economy and fear a return to violence.

"I'm very worried about what Abelardo might do in a government," said 40-year-old bank worker Santiago Galindo, who voted for Cepeda.

Galindo worried "how far his thirst for power could go and his willingness to trample over people without really caring about them."