As we mentioned in yesterday’s “week in review” post, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe (in the image along with Vice President Francisco Santos) easily won reelection in the first round of voting. Uribe’s win was greater than expected as he won with nearly two-thirds of the vote and beat his nearest rival by about 40%. However, the biggest surprise was the second place achieved by left-wing candidate Carlos Gaviria, whose 22% was the highest ever acheived by the Colombian left in a presidential election. Bogota-based newspaper El Tiempo heralded Gaviria’s result as an “enormous triumph of the left” which along with Uribe’s victory brings in a “new political panorama…replaced by new forces.” colombia, politics, election, alvaro uribe
Actually, according to the Xinhua News Agency: "Around 80 observers, from the Organization of American States, the European Union and the European Parliament, will monitor the vote."
ReplyDeleteHere's the link if you want to check it out: http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-05/29/content_4613287.htm
Speaking of interesting observations, Hugo Chavez has been pretty low-key and (dare I say) conciliatory towards Uribe this past week. Perhaps this will mean better relations between the two leaders. Hmm?