Hard-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella wins razor-tight Colombia presidential vote

Right-wing candidate Abelardo De La Espriella. (Photo/AP)

A flamboyant US-backed lawyer who has never held public office has narrowly won Colombia's presidential runoff, swinging the country hard to the right on a promise to wage war against drug-running guerrilla groups.

With more than 99 percent of polling centres reporting, Abelardo de la Espriella had 49.67 percent of the vote, an unassailable lead over his rival, left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda who trailed at 48.69 percent, according to official results.

Results of the high-stakes elections, which will reshape the country's fragile peace process and relations with the United States, were finalised following a highly polarised campaign.

Security dominated a hyper-fractious race that was marred by guerrilla bomb attacks, hundreds of threats against candidates and the murder of a leading conservative presidential hopeful.

Trump endorsement for 'The Tiger'

Frontrunner De la Espriella has won US President Donald Trump's "complete and total endorsement" and hopes to ride a wave that has swept rightist candidates to power across Latin America.

The dual US-Colombian national, who calls himself "The Tiger," won May's first round vote promising to wage war on cartels and guerrilla groups.

Instead of focusing on security, Cepeda has appealed to progressives and the poor, who have benefited from a drop in poverty and a bump in wages in four years of leftist rule.

The 63-year-old philosopher-turned-senator, an architect of peace talks, cast his vote in Bogota.

"When we win, we are going to govern for the whole country and not just for one sector," the candidate told the press.

Trump has suggested that if Cepeda wins, the future of Colombia's ties with Washington would be uncertain, putting billions of dollars of aid in question.

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Source: TRT