Pollsters blamed for Colombian president’s falling approval

Poll results showing a major dip in the approval of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is “a trick” according to domestic media outlet RCN. They reported today that a government spokesman claimed that pollsters deliberately inflated Uribe’s approval rating in previous surveys so that any decrease would “appear like a fall in the president’s image.”

A poll released on Saturday by Gallup had Uribe’s popularity fall from 75% to 66% and his disapproval rating increase to 27%. One pollster blamed the decrease in popularity to the growing “para-politics” scandal that has shown ties between Uribe’s political allies (e.g. his brother, Mario) and right-wing paramilitary groups.

Sources (English)- The Latin Americanist, Reuters, International Herald Tribune,

Sources (Spanish)- RCN

Image- Vancouver Sun (“Colombian President Alvaro Uribe (left) talks to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the end of their meeting at the presidential palace in Bogota on Monday)