Presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

are scheduled to be held in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

in May 2026.

Gustavo Petro Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego (; born 19 April 1960) is a Colombian politician who is the 34th and current president of Colombia since 2022. Upon inauguration, he became the Pink tide, first left-wing president in the History of Colombia, recen ...

, who was elected president in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, is ineligible to run due to term limits.

Background

In the previous 2022 presidential election, as none of the presidential nominees obtained at least 50% of the votes in the first round, a runoff was held between the top two candidates,

and Rodolfo Hernández Suárez. Petro won the run-off, becoming the first

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

candidate to be elected

president of Colombia The president of Colombia (President of the Republic) is the head of state and head of government of Colombia. The president heads the executive branch of the Government of Colombia, national government and is the commander-in-chief of the Mil ...

since the country's independence in 1810. The results for the second round saw the lowest record of blank votes in over 20 years and a turnout of 58.17%, the highest since

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. Since taking office, Petro and his allies have been involved in several scandals. One scandal, nicknamed "Nannygate", involved the publishing of recordings of then ambassador to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, Armando Benedetti, speaking with Petro's

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

, Laura Sarabia, about possible illegal financing and threats of revealing compromising information on campaign rivals. Both of were forced to resign from their positions as a result. The scandal lowered approval of Petro, being viewed by the public as an indication of corruption inside the government. His presidential approval rating dropped to a low of 26% in July 2023 according to a Datexco survey. In 2025, Petro fired his entire cabinet to reassess his previous choices in light of his appointment of Armando Benedetti as Chief of Staff and promotion of 30-year-old Laura Sarabia to

Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

; both were embroiled in a campaign finance scandal. His key labor and healthcare reforms stalling at the legislative branch, the arrest of his son in a

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

scandal involving campaign financing, and the scandal involving his ministers contributed to a decrease in public support for the president.

Electoral system

For the 2026 election, Independent candidates are required to collect at least 635,215 valid signatures.

Primaries and party conventions

The

Historic Pact for Colombia The Historic Pact for Colombia (, PHxC) is a political and electoral coalition in Colombia composed of political parties and social movements with ideologies ranging from the Centre-left politics, centre-left, Left-wing politics, left-wing, and ...

, the incumbent

political coalition A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

, plans to hold their convention on strategies for the 2026 elections on 16 June 2025.

Candidates

Declared candidates and registered pre-candidates

Other

Declined

Francia Márquez Francia Elena Márquez Mina (born 1 December 1981) is a Colombia, Colombian human-rights and environmental activist, feminist, lawyer and politician who is the 13th and current Vice President of Colombia since 2022. She was born in Yolombó (vill ...

, incumbent

Vice President of Colombia The vice president of Colombia (Vice president of the Republic) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the Government of Colombia, national government, after the president of Colombia, and ranks first in the Colombian presiden ...

Campaigns

Attempted assassination of Miguel Uribe Turbay

On 7 June 2025, Democratic Centre pre-candidate

Miguel Uribe Turbay Miguel Uribe Turbay (born 28 January 1986) is a Colombian politician serving as a member of the Senate of Colombia since 2022. A conservative critic of incumbent president Gustavo Petro, he is seeking the Democratic Centre's nomination for th ...

was shot and seriously injured during a campaign event in Bogotá.

Opinion polls

2025

2024

A poll conducted by market research firm Guarumo and Ecoanalitica in February 2025 showed independent candidate

Vicky Dávila Victoria Eugenia "Vicky" Dávila Hoyos (born 30 May 1973) is a Colombian journalist, politician, and radio and television host. She has worked as a journalist for Noticiero TV Hoy, RCN, W Radio, and La FM. She later served as the director of ...

leading with 15.1%, followed by president Petro's ally Gustavo Bolívar at 11.9%. It also showed former presidential candidate and centrist

Sergio Fajardo Sergio Fajardo Valderrama (; born 19 June 1956) is a Colombian politician and mathematician. He first entered politics in 2003 when he was elected Mayor of Medellin, Medellín, the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia and ...

at 11.5%. Meanwhile, 7.1% polled said that they would not vote for any of the candidates. Another poll conducted by the National Consulting Center in March 2025, commissioned and financed by ''

Semana ''Semana'' (Spanish: ''Week'') is a weekly magazine in Colombia. History ''Semana'' was founded in 1946 by Alberto Lleras Camargo (who would become president of Colombia in 1958) and that folded in 1961. It was relaunched by journalist in ...

'' magazine, showed a close lead between Dávila with 13.6% and Fajardo with 13.4%, as well as Bolívar at 10.1%. The poll also showed Fajardo leading the voting intention with 35.1% against Dávila's 31.7% in a run-off.

Notes

References

{{Colombian elections

Presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

Presidential elections in Colombia