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Former Medellin mayor quits Presidential race

By Manuel Rueda, Editorial Director

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Former Medellin mayor Sergio Fajardo has decided to drop out of the Presidential race and back Green Party Presidential candidate Antanas Mockus, who is currenlty running third in the polls.

 

Fajardo announced his decision on Monday morning after Mockus proposed him to run as his vice-president over the weekend, just two days before the time limit for registering Vice-Presidential candidates expired.

 

Fajardo was immensely popular as mayor of Medellin and became well known throughout Colombia for his efforts to renew the citys infrastructure, pacify drug trafficking gangs, and provide educational opportunities for Medellins' poor.

 

He had been campaigning for the country's top office for more than a year and in the first months of 2010, he was perceived to be one of the strongest candidates, coming in second in most polls.

 

But the former mathematics professor lost momentum last month after his political movement – Compromiso Ciudadano -- had a dismal showing in the March 14^th Congressional elections, failing to gain any seats in the Colombian Senate.

 

This prompted Mockus – a former mayor of Bogota and also a mathematician – to offer Fajardo an olive branch and call for the union of the Green party and the Compromiso Ciudadano movement.

 

Analysts say that Fajardos adhesion to the Green party could help Mockus overtake Conservative Party candidate Noem Sanin, enabling the Green Party candidate to secure a spot in the second round of Presidential elections.

 

Most polls currently place Mockus third in a pool of seven Presidential candidates, with around 9% of voting intent, while Sanin is running second with approximately 18% of the vote.

 

Presidential elections will take place in Colombia on May 30^th and if no candidate gains 50% of the vote, a second round will take place between the two candidates who obtain the most votes.

 

Former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, who is regarded as the candidate who is most similar to President Uribe, is currenly the frontrunner with all polls giving him more than 30% of the vote.

 

But analysts say Fajardo will help Mockus gain more votes in regions where he is currently weak such as Antioquia and the coffee axis states.

 

Fajardos union with Mockus could also trigger an alliance between the Green Party and the leftist Polo Democratico party, that pollsters say would defeat Sanin and the Conservative Party.

 

There are however ideological differences between Mockus and Polo Democratico candidate Gustavo Petro and Mockus has said that he is not planning any further alliances for the first round of the Presidential elections.