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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Colombia election race starts |
| 2010-02-28 |
| BOGOTA (Reuters) - The race for Colombia's presidency began Saturday, with former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos the favorite after the South American nation's popular incumbent was blocked from running for a third term. The Constitutional Court's decision to bar a referendum on re-election heralds an end to President Alvaro Uribe's eight-year rule, during which the U.S. ally beat back left-wing guerrillas, stabilized the economy and drew investors. With Colombian politics fixated for more than a year on the re-election issue, and polls showing Uribe would have won easily if allowed to run, Friday's ruling represented a starting gun for other presidential aspirants. "The happiest man in Colombia today is Juan Manuel Santos," said one of his rivals in the May 30 presidential election, Gustavo Petro, of the leftist Democratic Pole party. Uribe's former defense minister -- who also held the finance portfolio in a previous government -- is closely associated with the U.S.-backed security policies that have made Uribe the nation's most popular president, and helped Colombia escape its past image for violence and chaos. Before the presidential vote, a March 14 parliamentary election will test the political waters, and a certain amount of realigning among Uribe's ruling coalition is expected. Uribe backs Santos, who heads the president's Social National Unity Party. But Uribe's alliance partner, the Conservative Party, could put up its own candidate. Sergio Fajardo, an independent candidate and former mayor from Colombia's second city Medellin, is hovering behind Santos in the polls. And would-be Conservative Party candidate Noemi Sanin could be a challenger if the Uribe alliance splits. Santos met Uribe in the city of Cali Saturday to plan their political strategy for the election. "We are going to win," Santos predicted. "I will find the way for this great coalition to have a single candidate." Analysts expect no candidate will win more than 50 percent of the votes in May, meaning there would be a run-off in June. |
| Posted by:Steve White |