BOGOTA, Colombia (UPDATED) – Colombian voters headed to polls Sunday, May 25, for a presidential vote seen as a referendum on the government’s peace talks with Marxist guerrillas to end a half-century-old civil war.
Polling stations in Colombia opened on schedule at 8:00 am (1300 GMT) for the first round election, with more than 32 million eligible to vote.
The election pits President Juan Manuel Santos, seeking a second four-year term after launching peace talks in 2012, against main rival Oscar Zuluaga, who has vowed to take a harder line against rebels.
“We call on Colombians to vote. This strengthens our democracy, our institutions and regardless of the winner we will continue on the right track towards peace,” Santos, 62, said as he cast his vote early in Bogota.
The two rivals are running neck-and-neck in a field of five candidates after a late surge in the polls by Zuluaga, setting up a likely run-off on June 15.
Voting in Colombia takes place between 8:00 am (1300 GMT) and 4:00 pm (2100 GMT) and around 90% of the results should be known within four hours of the conclusion of voting, according to election officials.
“I vote because it’s the only way I know to help the country. We’re in a permanent crisis and participating is a way to say ‘enough,'” one voter, Joana Elles, a 25-year-old business manager told Agence France-Presse, complaining of corruption and political tension.
Allies turned rivals
Santos and Zuluaga were once cabinet colleagues under former conservative president Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010), but are now bitter rivals and have clashed repeatedly in the campaign.
Santos worked as defense minister under Uribe, accompanying the former leader’s aggressive military campaign that led to the killings of key FARC leaders.
But Uribe, who remains popular, has thrown his weight behind Zuluaga, his former finance minister, going as far as calling Santos a traitor for negotiating with the rebels.
The former president reiterated his support for Zuluaga as he cast his vote Sunday, saying he voted for the candidate “to retrieve the path of security abandoned by the current government.”
Zuluaga, 55, has called for the peace negotiations to be suspended until the rebels surrender.
Santos, in power since 2010, has made ending the conflict the centerpiece of his re-election bid, campaigning on a slogan which offers voters a stark choice: “War or Peace.”
“The main issue between the two candidates is the peace process. Santos wants to finish what he started, while Zuluaga’s precise intentions are unknown,” said Yann Basset, a political scientist at the University of Rosario.
“It’s unclear if he’s going to terminate negotiations or try to continue them on different terms,” Basset added.
The peace process, hosted by Cuba, seeks to end a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced more than five million since it erupted in 1964.
A majority of Colombians support the peace talks, which have so far led to agreements on rural reform, the participation of former guerrillas in politics and the battle against drug trafficking.
Santos has refused to call a ceasefire during the peace talks in order to keep up pressure on the guerrillas. – Rappler.com
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