Petro: Fraud in last election

 

TT-AFP

 

Published 03.45

  

Colombia's outgoing President Gustavo Petro during a press conference on Monday, local time. Photo: Ivan Valencia /AP/TT

Colombia's outgoing President Gustavo Petro says he has evidence that the country's last presidential election was not fair.

- We are facing a fraud, Petro says at a press conference.

According to Petro, the election was subject to "systematic electoral fraud involving an enormous number of votes".

Left-wing senator Iván Cepeda lost the presidential election in June by 1 percentage point to his opponent, right-wing politician Abelardo de la Espriella, who has been supported by US President Donald Trump.

The victory for businessman and lawyer de la Espriella was secured by a margin of almost 251,000 votes.

According to Petro, de la Espriella plans to extradite Petro to the US on "false charges". He believes this would plunge Colombia into civil war.