Colombian Elections

[Cap'n Jib]

Although the results are still coming in, Uribe's hold on the government may start to crumble. Look for him to move more to the center in order to maintain his control.



Tarnished Parties Falter in Colombia
Ties to Paramilitary Groups Are Detriment in Regional Voting
By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, October 30, 2007; Page A12
BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct. 29 -- Political figures with links to illegal paramilitary groups suffered setbacks in Sunday's regional elections in Colombia, as their discredited parties lost important gubernatorial and mayoral races, according to results on Monday.
Five parties, including one led by President ¿lvaro Uribe's cousin, former senator Mario Uribe, had been vying for eight governorships and thousands of other posts, even though their leaders are in jail or under investigation for allegedly collaborating with paramilitary death squads.
On Sunday, those five parties won control of more than 20 percent of Colombia's towns, leading election monitors to voice concern over the parties' continuing hold on power at the local level. But ballot results also showed that the parties had taken control of only two of 32 governorships, in Antioquia and Amazonas, and had failed to win mayoral posts in any major city.
Since the "para-politics" scandal erupted last year, connecting lawmakers with paramilitary groups, prosecutors have accused scores of congressmen of helping the groups embezzle money from government institutions, traffic cocaine and orchestrate murders.
"In general, I'm satisfied by the outcome," said Claudia L¿pez, a political analyst who first revealed how paramilitary groups and politicians had collaborated to steal elections in the past. "In the big centers of power, like the governorships and the big city halls, they suffered setbacks and lost big."
Although the run-up to the elections was marred by rebel killings of nearly two dozen candidates, the voting on Sunday was largely free of violence. In Bogota, voters elected Samuel Moreno, a former senator from the leftist Democratic Pole party, as mayor, the country's second-most important post.
The win enhances the prospects for the opposition Democratic Pole ahead of the 2010 presidential election. Smaller left-leaning movements won the mayoral posts in Colombia's second- and third-most important cities, Medellin and Cali.
A coalition of parties that support the president, though, still scored significant victories, winning at least 15 governorships and mayoral seats in 13 state capitals, according to El Tiempo, the country's leading newspaper
In addition to the two governorships won by tarnished parties, politicians from more established parties won the governorships in three coastal states with the help of party bosses who are under investigation for allegedly conspiring with paramilitary groups, election monitors said.
"Without a doubt, they're weaker than they were in the previous elections, but they're far from disappearing," Elisabeth Ungar, a political scholar at the University of the Andes, said in reference to paramilitary groups.
Omar D¿az Granados, assistant to a former governor accused of ties with death squads, won the governorship in Magdalena state. In Cordoba, the governor-elect had the backing of three jailed congressmen. In neighboring Sucre state, where authorities are uncovering mass graves filled with the remains of paramilitary victims, voters elected Jorge Carlos Barraza as governor. Barraza is close to a jailed former senator, ¿lvaro "the Fat Man" Garc¿a, who is charged with planning murders with paramilitary hit men.
"These are serious indications that illegal groups continue to influence on the coast," Rafael Garcia, a former Colombian intelligence official jailed for collaborating with paramilitary groups, said in a phone interview from jail.
Still, there were striking losses for prominent politicians accused of ties with paramilitary groups.
In Cesar state, where the now-tarnished Ara¿jo family held power, Cristian Moreno won the governorship. In 2003, Moreno was forced to withdraw from the race by paramilitary operatives, permitting Hernando Molina Ara¿jo to run unopposed for governor. Molina Ara¿jo is now accused of conspiring with paramilitary groups.