Colombia’s new Congress was installed on 20 July against a backdrop of deepening political crisis, as outgoing President Gustavo Petro used his final public address to repeat unsubstantiated claims that last month’s presidential election was stolen and to call for mass mobilisation against the incoming government. Speaking in a working-class district of Bogotá, Petro announced he had filed a legal challenge alleging fraud, backed by what he described as 70,000 “digital witnesses”, and urged supporters to prepare for an “indefinite general strike” should the administration of President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella attempt to reverse his labour and agrarian reforms. Petro, who has said he will not attend the inauguration, insisted that the true winner was his ally Iván Cepeda and accused the national registry and private contractors of orchestrating the manipulation.

On the same day, de la Espriella’s security team disclosed intelligence reports of a criminal plot to assassinate him during regional transition meetings. According to the incoming government’s statement, the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissident factions of the former FARC have offered up to 3 billion Colombian pesos (roughly $900,000) for an attack, and have sought to infiltrate public events. De la Espriella, a right-wing lawyer who won the runoff by less than one percentage point, has pledged to abandon Petro’s policy of negotiating with armed groups in favour of military pressure and to restore diplomatic ties with Israel, which Petro severed in 2024 over the war in Gaza. His team said the president-elect would not alter his schedule, calling the threats an attempt to “impose fear through violence”.

The standoff places Colombia’s democratic institutions under acute strain. Petro’s fraud narrative, which international observers and the inspector general have dismissed as lacking evidence, mirrors tactics used elsewhere to delegitimise electoral outcomes. Viewed from Bogotá, the outgoing president’s call for street-level resistance and his suggestion of forming unarmed “liberation guards” to defend land and neighbourhoods risk mobilising his base in ways that could clash with the new government’s security apparatus. De la Espriella, meanwhile, has accused Petro of plotting a “coup” and has requested that his inauguration be moved from Congress to a military garrison in the south of the country, a proposal Petro has rejected as unconstitutional.

The transition unfolds amid a fragile security environment. Colombia is experiencing its worst violence since the 2016 peace accord with the FARC, with armed groups expanding territorial control and coca cultivation reaching record levels. De la Espriella has signalled he will seek a new “Plan Colombia 2.0” with Washington and will join the US-led “Shield of the Americas” anti-narcotics initiative on taking office. The new Congress, where no single bloc holds a majority, will immediately face decisions on the inauguration venue and the new government’s legislative agenda, while Petro’s fraud complaint is expected to be one of the first items of debate. The president-elect is due to be sworn in on 7 August.