Colombia goes to the polls to elect new president
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There's tight security in parts of Colombia as polls open for today's presidential election with a human rights activist and a far-right populist nicknamed “the Tiger” among the frontrunners. We'll have the latest from Bogota.
Also on the programme: Israel says it's moving further into southern Lebanon as its war against Hezbollah intensifies; and a Georgian wine cellar once owned by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin has officially been unsealed.
(Photo: Workers stick campaign posters of the Historic Pact (Pacto Historico) on the day of the presidential election in Corinto, Colombia on May 31. Credit: Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.6 | Hello and welcome to Newsout from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.8 | We're coming to you live from London. |
| 0:14.7 | I'm James Menendez. |
| 0:16.1 | And we're going to begin today in Colombia, |
| 0:18.0 | because in just under an hour, voting begins in an election to choose a new |
| 0:22.6 | president. The current leader, the left-wing former guerrilla leader, Gustavo Petro, is limited to |
| 0:28.7 | just one term in office. But his presence hangs heavy over today's vote. It's been seen as |
| 0:34.8 | something of a referendum on his four years in office and in particular |
| 0:38.5 | measures to tackle the armed groups and the cocaine trade. Well, one of the front runners is a |
| 0:44.6 | close ally, but he is facing stiff opposition from the right in the shape of a flamboyant far-right |
| 0:50.5 | populist and a more mainstream conservative senator. |
| 0:57.7 | Well, let's head live to the capital Bogota to speak to Sergio Guzman, |
| 1:01.8 | who's director of the advisory group Colombia Risk Analysis. |
| 1:04.3 | Sergio, very good to have you with us here on NewsHour. |
| 1:07.0 | Tell us about Ivan Sephe. |
| 1:09.2 | He worked closely with President Petro. |
| 1:12.9 | Is he essentially the continuity candidate in this election? |
| 1:21.9 | Good morning and thank you for having me. Yes, Ivan Cepa does represent continuity from the Petro administration, but a lot of people are concerned about what exactly that continuity means. In 2022, President Petro got |
| 1:30.9 | elected on a much more moderate platform, saying, for instance, he would work with different |
| 1:35.9 | political parties, trying to reach out to the business community, et cetera. And his presidency |
| 1:43.1 | has been anything but he's wanted a |
... |
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