Abelardo de la Espriella responded to Iván Cepeda’s new call for a debate, who asked RCN, Caracol, and RTVC to organize such events. The right-wing candidate recalled that the condition for debating is an acknowledgment of the first-round results, in which the lawyer won by three points.
“Cepeda, don’t come to impose conditions. First, acknowledge the results of the people’s will at the polls, and we will be ready for the debate,” said the candidate, who then insisted on the invitation made by Revista Semana to both candidates.
Along those lines, he declared: “Whenever and however, José Manuel Restrepo and I will be waiting for Aída and you. It will be a pleasure for the country to know who is who.” Finally, he commented: “Stop messing around with that false willingness to debate just to get headlines. It’s easy: acknowledge that you lost the first round, go with your running mate, and that’s it.”
On the other hand, the lawyer did not refer to the accusations, without any proof, made by Cepeda about an alleged vote buying. The left-wing candidate assured that there are complaints against his rival.
Cepeda’s Request
From Cali, Iván Cepeda gave a statement to the media in which he insisted on holding the debates. For this, he asked his rival, Abelardo de la Espriella, to choose the representatives to agree on the rules of the game for these spaces. In addition, he asked Caracol Televisión, RCN Televisión, and RTVC to organize the discussions between the two who advanced to the second round.
“So that it is clear that these are not empty announcements. He will ask the managements of three media outlets to host this debate,” said Cepeda, adding: “The campaign has accepted invitations in the past, Caracol, RCN, and RTVC. I am going to ask the managements of these media outlets to serve as hosts for the debate.” According to the left-wing candidate, he focused on these three channels because they have the highest viewership in the country.
“Mr. de la Espriella has run out of tricks and stratagems,” said the candidate, who insisted on the need for the campaign of the one who won the first round to designate its representatives to set the rules of the game.
Allegations of Fraud
One week after the first-round presidential elections, Iván Cepeda has still not officially recognized the results in which Abelardo de la Espriella won by three points and which led to a runoff. However, the presidential candidate denounced an alleged vote buying by his opponent.
“My campaign is receiving information through multiple channels, which we are going to document, about irregular financial dealings by Mr. de la Espriella’s campaign: alleged vote buying, movement of large sums of money in different parts of the country,” said Cepeda in a statement to the media from Cali.
“I have appointed Miguel Ángel del Río, who will be in charge of the investigation into these alleged movements and financial dealings. For that purpose, Dr. del Río is traveling to the city of Barranquilla,” Cepeda stated.
In the same space, he asserted that they are being targeted by a dirty campaign “through troll farms against us.”
