Colombia's Razor Sharp Presidential Race Sparks Dispute Over Vote Count

BOGOTA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Preliminary results released Sunday night showed independent candidate Abelardo de la Espriella of the far-right Defenders of the Homeland movement leading in the country's presidential runoff, though the vote count was immediately met with scrutiny from President Gustavo Petro and the governing coalition's candidate.

With 99.97 percent of votes counted, De la Espriella had 49.66 percent of the vote, compared with 48.70 percent for Ivan Cepeda of the left-wing governing Historic Pact coalition, a gap of about 250,000 votes. 

--NNN-Xinhua