UPDATED June 20th 2300 Bogotá time
Governing party candidate Juan Manuel Santos has won the final round of Colombia’s presidential elections. With almost all the votes counted, Mr Santos had won 69% of the ballots and was more than 40 points ahead of his rival – Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus. Mr Santos shares outgoing President Alvaro Uribe’s tough line on security. Click here for BBC article
UPDATED May 30th 2015 Bogotá time
With 99% of the vote counted Juan Manuel Santos has a commanding lead with 46.56% of the vote however not an outright majority so there will be a run off against Antanas Mockus who has 21.49%. The run-off will be held on Sunday June 20th.
Consequently we now have a run-off poll loaded. Please click here to vote.
RESULTS of May 30th Presidential Election
Juan Manuel Santos – 46.56% – Votes: 6,758,539
Antanas Mockus – 21.49% – Votes: 3,120,716
German Vargas – 10.13% – Votes: 1,471,377
Gustavo Petro – 9.16% – Votes: 1,329,512
Noemí Sanín – 6.14% – Votes: 892,323
Rafael Pardo – 4.38% – Votes: 636,624
The Colombian presidential elections of 2010 will be held on May 30. A referendum proposal that would have allowed incumbent President Álvaro Uribe the opportunity to run for a third term was rejected by the Constitutional Court of Colombia in a 7-2 ruling on February 26, 2010. Should no candidate receive over half of votes on May 30, a run-off will happen on June 20 between the two candidates receiving the highest percentages of votes. (Source Wikipedia)
Click to Vote in VoteGlobal QuickPoll
The Washington Post says; Colombia’s presidential election on Sunday is among the most compelling in Latin America in a long time, pitting a quirky former university president and big-city mayor who wears an Abraham Lincoln-like beard against the scion of a powerful establishment family who became one of the country’s most successful defense ministers. Full article.
MICHAELA CANCELA-KIEFFER (AFP):
Colombians head to the polls on Sunday to choose from among nine candidates their next president, with former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos and former Bogota mayor Antanas Mockus neck-and-neck to replace President Alvaro Uribe. Sunday’s ballot is the first round in the election, in which the nine candidates will be whittled down to just two — likely Santos and Mockus — in a knockout round on June 20. The latest opinion polls indicate a second round is unavoidable given how close the two top contenders are running — around 35 percent each, with some of the trailing rivals, especially conservative Noemi Sanin and leftist Gustavo Petro gaining enough ground to carry some negotiating weight before the climax vote. The Organization of American States, which has sent 85 observers to the election, has warned Colombia’s voting system — manual count and results sent by phone — could pose some difficulties. Read full article
