Tuesday Seminar in Latin American Politics
Date and Time
September 22, 2026
12:00PM - 01:20PM EDT
Panel: Anti-Incumbent or Pro-Right? Colombia's 2026 Election and the Road Ahead
Colombia elected a new right-wing president, Abelardo de la Espriella, by a razor-thin margin in the June 2026 runoff. De la Espriella ran as an outsider against the political establishment and against Iván Cepeda, the left-wing governing coalition's chosen successor. Yet to govern, he will need the cooperation of the very career politicians he campaigned against given that his party holds only a handful of seats in Congress. Join our panelists to unpack the shift from left to right, the collapse of Colombia's political center, and what to expect from the incoming administration.
Speakers
- Sandra Borda, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Global Studies, Universidad de Los Andes.
- Sergio Clavijo, Lecturer Faculty of Economics and Law Dept., Universidad de los Andes, Colombia.
- Yann Basset, Political scientist; PhD, Paris III University.
Moderator
- Alisha Holland, Faculty Associate; Chair, Weatherhead Research Cluster on Business and Government. Gates Professor of Developing Societies, Department of Government, Harvard University.
Contact
Paola Ibarra
pibarra@fas.harvard.edu
This event is organized by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.