Colombia’s outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, has claimed that Israel interfered in the country’s presidential election, alleging irregularities in the vote-counting process and calling for a nationwide audit and recount.
The allegation came as political outsider and right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella held a razor-thin lead in the presidential runoff with nearly all ballots counted.
In a series of posts on X on Sunday, June 21, Petro said changes in the IP addresses of several servers linked to Colombia’s national registry raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral system.
“The only entity in the world capable of doing that is the state of Israel,” Petro wrote, without providing evidence to support the accusation.
Petro argued that the preliminary count was not sufficient to determine the outcome and said only the official scrutiny process could establish the winner.
According to figures cited by the outgoing president, de la Espriella had secured 49.3 percent of the vote, compared with 49 percent for Gustavo Bolívar Cepeda.
He also claimed that earlier requests for an independent review of the election software were not approved despite concerns about potential vulnerabilities in the system.
Calling for greater transparency, Petro urged authorities to conduct a forensic audit of the electoral software, recount votes from all polling stations and place the scrutiny process under judicial supervision.
The president further alleged procedural irregularities, including lawyers being denied access to a vote-counting centre in Bogotá and unsigned E14 polling forms being uploaded by election authorities.
Despite questioning the process, Petro appealed for calm and urged Colombians to await the completion of the official review.
He also called for national dialogue, saying the closely contested race reflected deep political divisions within the country.
Electoral authorities had not publicly responded to Petro’s allegations at the time of writing, while his claims regarding Israeli involvement have not been independently verified.
