Colombia national registrar says final count in presidential runoff is nearly identical to initial count

BOGOTA, June 23 - Colombia's national registrar on Tuesday said a final count of votes in this weekend's presidential race differed in just 0.003% of ballots from an initial count that gave right-wing lawyer Abelardo De La Espriella victory in the contest.

De La Espriella was less than 1% ahead of leftist Ivan Cepeda in an initial vote count on Sunday, winning 49.6% of votes. Cepeda had said he would wait for a final verification of the count by electoral authorities before acknowledging the result.

The results between the two counts match for 99.997% of votes, the registrar said in a statement on its website.

"The preliminary vote count achieved high levels of accuracy," the statement said. "This result shows the adjustments were minimal and that the process of consolidating and releasing the results has been successful and unprecedented in Colombia's history."

De La Espriella's win makes Colombia the latest country in Latin America to swing to the right, as concerns about crime motivate voters around the region to back politicians promising crackdowns. REUTERS