Colombians vote in decisive runoff between opposing political visions

Colombians vote on Sunday in a presidential runoff to determine whether the country continues on its leftist path or joins Latin America's rightward shift by electing a political outsider who has vowed to crack down on crime.

After a crowded first-round election produced no winner in May, voters will choose between two runoff candidates: leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda and Abelardo De La Espriella, a right-wing lawyer and businessman with no political experience.

Cepeda, 63, is vowing to continue the policies of President Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and the country's first leftist president, which include state pension payments for the poor, union-backed labor reforms, peace talks with armed groups that have fought the state for decades and a moratorium on new oil projects.

De La Espriella, 47, is proposing the exact opposite — ending talks with armed groups and carrying out a broad military ⁠offensive against them, and boosting Colombia's oil and gas sector.

De La Espriella blames Petro for the country's economic and security woes and has vowed to lower taxes and reduce the size of the state by up to 40%, but has said he will preserve Petro's 23% increase in the minimum wage, along with other popular social measures.

Whoever wins will grapple with high public debt and a divided Congress, which could stymie reform proposals.

Polls and a wary market favor De La Espriella, who won the most votes in the first round with 43%, but analysts expect a tight race. Both candidates have taken pains to raise turnout among the nearly half of eligible voters who skipped the May first round.

-Reuters