Colombian Presidential Elections Primer

The Candidates

The following list, except for the web addresses and comments, with their ballot number appeared in El Tiempo. Have a look for yourself. You can see more comments on Electorales.com.

Luis Eduardo Garzón

Luis Eduardo Garzón(Presidencia) y Vera Grabe (Vicepresidencia) por el Frente Social y Político (Número 1).
www.LuchoGarzon.com
"Lucho" is a union leader, former President of CUT, Colombia's largest union organization. He is not in favor of using force to save the country from terrorism and disagrees with extradition to the U.S.

Noemí Sanín

Noemí Sanín (Presidencia) y Fabio Villegas (Vicepresidencia) por Sí Colombia (Número 2).
www.NoemiSanin.net
Sanín boasts of having the best presidential platform and has been applauded for getting together one of the best groups of advisors, which is said to be strong in economic issues. Promises to rid the Congress of corruption.

Harold Bedoya

Harold Bedoya (Presidencia) y Marino Jaramillo (Vicepresidencia) por Fuerza Colombia (Número 3).
www.FuerzaColombia.org

Álvaro Uribe Vélez

Álvaro Uribe Vélez (Presidencia) y Francisco Santos (Vicepresidencia) por Primero Colombia (Número 4).
www.AlvaroUribeVelez.com.co
Slogan: "Hard hand, big heart" Uribe promises to cut the number of Congresspeople in half and cut government spending way down.

Francisco Tovar

Francisco Tovar (Presidencia) y Ricardo Díaz (Vicepresidencia) por Fuerza Ciudadana (Número 5).

Guillermo Cardona

Guillermo Cardona (Presidencia) y Leonardo Cuervo (Vicepresidencia) por el movimiento Comunal y Comunitario (Número 6).
www.GCardona.com
Cardona works from a grassroots foundation.

Augusto Lora

Augusto Lora (Presidencia) y Germán Rojas (Vicepresidencia) por el movimiento Alianza Democrática M-19 (Número 7).
M-19, or Movimiento 19 de abril, was the urban-based guerrilla group that took the Palacio de Justicia and the Dominican Embassy during an Ambassador party.

Horacio Serpa

Horacio Serpa (Presidencia) y José Gregorio Hernández (Vicepresidencia) por el Partido Liberal (Número 8).
www.Serpa2002.com
Liberal Party candidate.

Álvaro Cristancho Toscano

Álvaro Cristancho Toscano (Presidencia) por el Movimiento de Participación Comunitaria (Número 9).

Íngrid Betancourt

Íngrid Betancourt (Presidencia) y Clara Rojas (Vicepresidencia) por el Partido Verde Oxígeno (Número 10).
www.IngridBetancourt.com
Pushed for a referendum that was never followed through on with Pastrana to close the corrupt Congress.

Rodolfo Rincón Sosa

Rodolfo Rincón Sosa (Presidencia) y Donaldo Jinete Escorcia (Vicepresidencia) Movimiento de Participación Comunitaria (Número 11).

No Electoral College

The Colombian elections are based on a popular vote in which the military is not allowed to participate, except for attempting to keep the peace throughout the electoral process. If there is no candidate with at least a 50% vote count, the top two candidates go to a second-round to determine who will become president.

The polls

The numbers still show Alvaro Uribe Vélez in a commanding lead, but not enough to win in the first-round. Take a look at this article from El Tiempo about the polls.

"The least of the evils" again

Not everybody jumping on the Uribe bandwagon is in favor of the "hard hand" part of his proposed measures. What many people don't want is more of the same old stuff in Serpa and his old school ways. So, folks are looking to one candidate to keep another out of office. Sound familiar?

No strings attached

One thing apparent in the recent mayoral, congressional and presidential elections is that Colombians are tired of the "strings-attached" kind of politicking in Colombia. It is apparent at the urns and very apparent through candidates' vehement assurance of their independent candidacies.