Santos and Mockus to Runoff in Colombian Elections
After 99.5 percent of the votes was counted in Colombia´s Sunday presidential elections, neither of the two main candidates Juan Manuel Santos, of the ruling party, and Antanas Mockus, of the Green Party, won the required 50 percent to claim outright victory.
Santos, with 46.6 percent of the ballots counted, and Mockus, with 21.5 percent, will now head to a runoff.
Though theres still no official report, analysts note that there was a poor turnout of only half of the almost 30 million people eligible to vote in the Sunday election, considered the calmest in 40 years in spite of reported armed clashes between the army and the guerrilla.
According to the 21st bulletin released by Colombia's Registry Office, Cambio Radical candidate German Vargas Lleras placed third with 10.17% of the votes, followed by Polo Democratico's Gustavo Petro with 9.18%.
The biggest losers of Colombia's first round presidential election were the Conservatives and the Liberals, which are traditionally the nation's most political parties. Conservative Party candidate Noemi Sanin got 6.12% and Liberal Party candidate Rafael Pardo ended up with 4.32%.
The Colombian government said that Sunday's polling was the calmest in 40 years, despite two soldiers were killed in clashes, as guerrillas attempted to disrupt the vote, and the army reported the arrest of 86 rebels.
No incidents were reported in the major cities, but according to the army one soldier was killed in combat in the central Meta department and one in the northern La Guajira department.
Most violence took place in the south-west of Colombia where fighting between rebels and army took place all weekend.
Santos, with 46.6 percent of the ballots counted, and Mockus, with 21.5 percent, will now head to a runoff.
Though theres still no official report, analysts note that there was a poor turnout of only half of the almost 30 million people eligible to vote in the Sunday election, considered the calmest in 40 years in spite of reported armed clashes between the army and the guerrilla.
According to the 21st bulletin released by Colombia's Registry Office, Cambio Radical candidate German Vargas Lleras placed third with 10.17% of the votes, followed by Polo Democratico's Gustavo Petro with 9.18%.
The biggest losers of Colombia's first round presidential election were the Conservatives and the Liberals, which are traditionally the nation's most political parties. Conservative Party candidate Noemi Sanin got 6.12% and Liberal Party candidate Rafael Pardo ended up with 4.32%.
The Colombian government said that Sunday's polling was the calmest in 40 years, despite two soldiers were killed in clashes, as guerrillas attempted to disrupt the vote, and the army reported the arrest of 86 rebels.
No incidents were reported in the major cities, but according to the army one soldier was killed in combat in the central Meta department and one in the northern La Guajira department.
Most violence took place in the south-west of Colombia where fighting between rebels and army took place all weekend.
Source:
Prensa Latina
Date:
31/05/2010