Juan Manuel Santos reelected in Colombia’s Presidential elections

http://colombiareports.co/juan-manuel-santos-reelected-colombias-presidential-elections/


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 Colombia’s elections, defeating Democratic Center candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga.

According the national election authorities, Santos won 50.92% of the vote. He won Bogota, the nation’s 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, Colombia’s grassland states. Ex-President Alvaro Uribe’s 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 country’s largest rebel group, the FARC, in Havana, Cuba. His campaign slogans in the second round were, “With peace, we will do more,” and “We’ve 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.