Senator Iván Cepeda was elected this Sunday as the presidential pre-candidate of the Historic Pact, the ruling coalition led by President Gustavo Petro, after winning 65,12% of the votes in the internal consultation finally held under the endorsement of the Alternative Democratic Pole.
Cepeda defeated former Health Minister Carolina Corcho, who obtained 28,72% of the ballots, in a day marked by high political tension and accusations of “sabotage” by electoral oversight institutions that, according to the party’s own complaints, had jeopardized the process for weeks.
With this victory, the senator from the Alternative Democratic Pole —a party that is part of the Historic Pact— becomes the official contender of the new unified left-wing party ahead of the 2026 presidential elections, although he will still have to face other leftist candidates next March in the primaries of the Broad Front, a wider coalition that seeks to regroup the country’s progressive, environmentalist, and social sectors.
In today’s vote, voters also determined the order of the Historic Pact’s lists —which will again be closed— for Colombia’s Senate and House of Representatives.
In this turbulent vote, the final turnout overwhelmingly surpassed two and a half million voters—a success for the organizers, considering the reported difficulties and the numerous changes that turned what was originally a primary election for the Historic Pact party into an internal consultation of one of its member organizations, aimed at ensuring its legal validity.
Ivan Cepeda elected as Historic Pact’s presidential candidate for Colombia’s 2026 race
The Historic Pact’s internal process had been surrounded by uncertainty. For more than a month, the consultation was postponed repeatedly due to obstacles imposed by electoral oversight agencies on the various forces that make up the new left-wing party —including the Alternative Democratic Pole, Human Colombia, and the Patriotic Union— as well as logistical issues and disagreements over voting mechanisms.
Members of the ruling coalition claimed that the delays and lack of logistical guarantees amounted to attempts at “political sabotage.” “It wasn’t easy to get here,” Cepeda declared after the results were announced. “We have faced obstacles, attempts to divide us, and a smear campaign, but today the Historic Pact has proven that it remains alive and capable of resolving its differences democratically,” he affirmed.
The organizing committee confirmed that the vote was supervised by the Democratic Pole, one of the founding parties of the Historic Pact, to ensure transparency following both internal and external criticism. As a result, the winner of today’s vote will now compete in next March’s primaries of the so-called Broad Front, a large left-wing coalition seeking to strengthen unity within the left to remain in power after the 2026 elections.
Despite fears of abstention, voter turnout exceeded expectations, especially in the Caribbean region, the Coffee Belt, and Bogotá, where Cepeda enjoys strong grassroots support.
Cepeda: Continuity and renewal within the ruling coalition
Iván Cepeda, 63, is one of the most recognized figures from the most ideological wing of petrismo. A sociologist by training, human rights activist, and son of the murdered senator Manuel Cepeda Vargas, he has long been a symbol of the struggle against paramilitarism and impunity. In Congress, he has stood out for his role in implementing the Peace Agreement with the FARC and for advocating a state policy centered on social rights and transitional justice.
More recently, he has gained notoriety in Colombia for being, as a victim, the main driving force behind the trial against former President Álvaro Uribe —the spiritual leader of the most conservative opposition to Petro’s government—, which initially resulted in Uribe’s conviction for witness tampering and procedural fraud, crimes for which he was later acquitted by the Bogotá High Court on appeal.
Cepeda’s victory in the consultation represents, according to analysts, a triumph for the more political and institutional wing of the Historic Pact over the more technocratic and reformist faction represented by Carolina Corcho. The former Health Minister, known for spearheading the government’s controversial health care reform, had based her campaign on continuing the structural transformations initiated under the current administration, but with an emphasis on administrative modernization and state efficiency.
Cepeda, for his part, built his candidacy around three main axes: the consolidation of total peace, a comprehensive agrarian reform, and a new economic pact focused on redistribution. In his victory speech, he delivered remarks pointing to a strategy of unity and continuity with Gustavo Petro’s legacy: “Our project is not over. What began in 2022 was the start of a transformation that is only taking its first steps. It is our task to deepen it with calm, determination, and social dialogue.”
After Iván Cepeda’s victory was confirmed late in the afternoon, Petro spoke out on his social media. “Democracy prevails, and we must obey it. The people have chosen freely. And now it’s up to Colombian society to decide whether to go backward or forward,” he wrote on his X account.
Se impone la democracia y hay que obedecerla. El pueblo ha elegido libre. Y ahora es lo que la sociedad colombiana quiera, si para atrás o para adelante.
pic.twitter.com/2HrQG68nvZ— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 26, 2025
Hours later, the Colombian president wrote: “Today’s result means that, even though these were not actual elections, the Historic Pact already has more voters than most political parties in real election dates. Imagine what’s coming: a winning Broad Front candidacy and a Broad Front Congress with an absolute majority that will approve the National Constituent Assembly so that the Constitution is upheld and the fundamental rights of Colombians are finally guaranteed,” in reference to the high expectations raised by the strong turnout in this internal consultation ahead of the legislative elections next March.
Comparar peras con manzanas , el ejercicio ingenuo del diletante.
El resultado de hoy significa que sin ser aún elecciones, el Pacto histórico tiene más electores que la mayoría de los partidos políticos en fechas de reales elecciones, imaginen lo que viene. Una candidatura de… https://t.co/tMMj5H2JKX
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 27, 2025
Related: Colombia’s Technocratic Outsider: The Enduring Legacy of ‘Engineer’ Hernandez.
Toward a Broad Left Front in Colombia’s 2026 elections
Cepeda’s victory is only the first step on a broader path. According to the political calendar, the Historic Pact will take part in the Broad Front primaries in March 2026—an alliance of parties and social movements seeking to consolidate a single left-wing candidacy for the presidential elections.
The Broad Front, inspired by similar experiences in other Latin American countries, brings together not only the Historic Pact but also sectors of the Green Party, the Unitarios movement, and various peasant, feminist, and youth organizations. Although its final configuration is still under discussion, the stated goal is to prevent the fragmentation of the progressive vote in what is shaping up to be a highly competitive electoral scenario.
After his clear victory was confirmed, Iván Cepeda—who had the support of much of the party’s machinery—congratulated his opponent, Carolina Corcho, for her strong showing at the polls. Meanwhile, María Fernanda Carrascal, a representative to the House for the Historic Pact, emphasized what she described as a success for the party, given the high voter turnout in this election.
“We have consolidated ourselves as the strongest political force in the country, despite the countless obstacles that have been thrown in our way to prevent this primary from taking place,” said the current representative, who was elected today as a member of the list for the House of Representatives for Bogotá in 2026.
Related: Colombia’s Elections: The Historic Pact and the Lesson of Its Own Strength.