Conservative parties win big in Congressional elections
By Manuel Rueda, Editorial Director
.jpg)
Friday, March 19, 2010
Conservative parties belonging to President Uribe´s governing coalition scored a big win on Sunday´s elections taking 58 out 0f 100 seats in the senate and a majority in the House of Representatives.
The leftist green party, which is less than a year old, surprised pundits by gaining 5 seats in the senate, while the Liberal Party remained as the largest opposition party with 18 senate seats, the same number it has in the current congress.
The big winner Sunday night was unequivocally the pro-Uribe Partido de la U -- or U Party -- which led the large pack of parties with more than 2,800,000 votes, capturing 27 seats in the senate.
Political pundits here interpret this victory as a show of strength for U Party leader and former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos, who celebrated the victory with his supporters saying the high number of votes reflected peoples’ “trust” in President´s Uribe´s policies.
Santos is now the front-runner in the May Presidential elections but experts say he may need to make coalitions with other right wing parties if he is to obtain a first round victory.
The conservative party also had a strong showing in Sunday´s congressional elections by obtaining 23 senate seats and more than 2 million votes, meaning that it is still positioned to take votes away from Santos in the Presidential elections in May.
Conservatives held their Presidential primaries during Congressional election day, but only half of the votes have been counted due to problems at the national registry, and as of now, there is a virtual tie between former agriculture minister and staunch Uribe supporter Andres Felipe Arias and Noemi Sanín, a former foreign minister who opposed Uribe´s re-election bid and has more independent policies.
Both candidates have filed complaints about voting irregularities, but Party leaders have asked them to be calm and willing to recognize the eventual winner´s victory in order not to split the party´s base.
Results for the conservative party primaries could take as long as Saturday to arrive.
The big loser Sunday night was Compromiso Ciudadano, a coalition of austerely funded academics, politicians, and highly skilled public sector workers led by Sergio Fajardo, a popular former mayor of Medellin.
Compromiso did not manage to gain a Senate Seat and was not able to gain political party status as it did not obtain 2% of the total senate votes required to become a party.
Compromiso leader, Sergio Fajardo, is running second in most Presidential voting intention polls and says he will continue to campaign for the top office.
Some experts say he is at a disadvantage against Santos or Presidential candidates from the liberal and conservative parties as these candidates’ parties obtained votes on Sunday that are likely to go to them in the Presidential elections.
You must be logged in to post comments.
Sign in or create an account to continue.
-
- September 8, 2010 Blog Posts
Colombian Culture
General Blog
-
- September 8, 2010 Blog Posts
Colombian Culture
General Blog
-
- September 6, 2010 Blog Posts
Colombian Culture
General Blog
WoW Spotlight
-
- September 20, 2010
-
Fans of Cuban musicians the Buena Vista Social Club will be excited to hear that one of their most popular members, Omara Portuondo, will be giving a concert in Bogotá on October 1st.
"Feeling's Girlfriend" and "The Voice of Cuba" are just two of the nicknames given to the singer, who has been performing for over fifty years.
WoW News
-
- September 20, 2010
U.S. President Barack Obama will meet his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos for the first time on September 24th in New York, at a United Nations General Assembly meeting.
The two leaders plan to have a conversation about the future relationship between the two countries.