Colombia cliffhanger a referendum on peace
Source: AP-EXCITE
By FRANK BAJAK
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Colombians voted Sunday in the nation's tightest presidential contest in two decades, a referendum on President Juan Manuel Santos' bid to end the Western Hemisphere's longest-running conflict.
The right-wing challenger, Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, accuses Santos of selling the country out to a "criminal" insurgency that is already on the ropes with 18-month-old Cuba-based peace talks.
Zuluaga is backed by former two-term President Alvaro Uribe, who many consider the true challenger, and the campaign has been the Andean nation's dirtiest in years, with Uribe suggesting to his 3 million Twitter followers that Santos aims to convert Colombia into a leftist totalitarian state.
Zuluaga won the most votes in a five-candidate field in the election's May 25 first round getting 29 percent against 26 percent for Santos.
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A voter casts his ballot at a polling station during presidential ron-off elections in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, June 15, 2014. Colombians voted Sunday in a presidential election characterized by a clash of personalities and relentless mudslinging that have overshadowed differences on how to put an end to a half-century of guerrilla violence. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Not even close.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)days ahead for Colombia and her people.
WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)Incumbent President and U Party candidate Juan Manuel Santos was reelected by a margin of over 5% (with over 99% of the vote counted) in the second round of Colombias elections, defeating Democratic Center candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga.
According the national election authorities, Santos won 50.92% of the vote. He won Bogota, the nations capital, with the largest number of voters, a change from the first round, when he placed third in the first round of the elections. Santos also took the vote in the regions most affected by guerrilla groups, including the Putumayo, Nariño, Cauca and Norte de Santander states.
Zuluaga won 45.03% of the vote and took most of the states in the coffee-growing region, including the Uribe-supporting Antioquia state, in addition to states in the Llanos, Colombias grassland states. Ex-President Alvaro Uribes party supported the candidacy of Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, and Uribe campaigned heavily for him.
Peace played a role in the reelect
Juan Manuel Santos campaign heavily emphasized the ongoing peace process with the countrys largest rebel group, the FARC, in Havana, Cuba. His campaign slogans in the second round were, With peace, we will do more, and Weve done a lot, there is still a lot to do, reflected in his policies that highlighted the achievements of his administration in addition to making promises about the second round.