Colombia set for new Congressional elections

[Janus]

BBC News

Colombians are electing a new Congress amid tight security.

There are fears Marxist guerrillas, who have paralysed parts of the country, will disrupt voting. Paramilitaries could also try to intimidate voters.

The poll might give President Alvaro Uribe his first working majority in the country's Congress.

The election may also signal the likely result of the presidential contest on 28 May, where the incumbent is the favourite to win.

Fears

Two clouds hang over the congressional elections.

The first is disruption by the Marxist guerrillas and the second, intimidation and manipulation by the right-wing paramilitaries.
The former have launched a series of offensives over the last few weeks, paralysing parts of the country. The latter, although now officially demobilised, have pledged to increase their political clout.

The likely winner will be President Uribe, as he has several smaller parties running under his banner. He might for the first time gain a working majority in the Congress.

The losers will most likely be the traditional liberal and conservative parties.

The liberals are bitterly divided and the conservatives have thrown in their lot with Mr Uribe as their only chance of political survival.

But for all the elements, this voting may well signal what to expect in May with the presidential elections.

[McLeft]

I hopeful that the left will get some seats, i'm confident.

[Karl Marx's Camel]

Why are you confident?

[Janus]

The Colombian Liberal Party and other liberal parties won many seats in the 2002 elections. So if one considers them "leftists", then there is a good chance that the Colombian Liberal Party and Independent Democratic Pole will gain many seats in the upcoming elections.

[metalero]

I went out voting today; The legal left is for first time unified into one plattform, The Alternative Democratic Pole, a coalition of social democrats, socialists and communists. Despite the media propaganda favouring Uribe parties, the terror in paramilitary controlled zones (most of northern rural colombia), where it is no secret death squads gun point voters to pick their Uribist candidates, and the massive corruption with traditional politicians buying votes, I felt a good environment for a nice left turn-out. Hopefully the Pole gets some seats that allow them, joined with the liberals (at the opposition at the time, but full of opportunists) to stand as a majority at congress, something hard to accomplish since the buorguoise and their parties (around 9) are all for Uribe. I'm confident Carlos Gaviria, former supreme constitutional judge and long standing humanist who always defended workers rights, will get enough votes to represent the pole for presidency and defeat Uribe in may. The Pole needs to get enough votes so they don't become a minority, which would make them jump in the bandwagon of liberalism to defeat Uribe anyway. If the fomer is the case, it would force the liberals to go through a soft Left program (nothing beyond can't be accomplished under Colombian "democratic" system) with agrarian reforms, some nationalizations and political negotiation of the armed conflict.

[metalero]

THE CIRCUS OF COLOMBIAN "DEMOCRACY"!

with 50% of the votes counted, the next senate looks really ugly for the workers movement and the left. Uribe's parties got 70 seats out of 100, meanwhile liberals have 16 seats, and the left coalition (alternative democratic pole) around 11. If these four years in Colombia looked like hell with all the figures in forced displacement, massacres, violation of human rights and extreme inequities, the next four years with this guys in power will be the prelude for a bloody social explosion, and perhaps an all-out civil war. Expect the worst.

[Janus]

It's very interesting to talk with people who are experiencing the said event directly.


Uribe's parties got 70 seats out of 100, meanwhile liberals have 16 seats, and the left coalition (alternative democratic pole) around 11.
Which parties are Uribe's? I thought that he belonged to the Colombia First Party, is he friendly with the Conservative party as well?

[Janus]

An update on the situation in Colombia.

BBC News

Parties backing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe are heading for a convincing victory in the general election, first indications suggest.
With more than a third of votes counted, supporters of Mr Uribe's war on leftist rebels look set to win a majority in the upper house, or Senate.

Pollsters have been predicting a closer finish in the House of Representatives.

Mr Uribe reacted to his coalition's showing by urging the main rebel group, the Farc, to enter peace talks.
"I ask the Farc to revise its behavior, review the democratic calling of all Colombians and consider the possibility of serious and urgent peace talks," he said.

Colombians managed to cast their votes on Sunday with relative ease after rebel threats of widespread violence did not materialise, the BBC's Jeremy McDermott reports.

Rebels did burn ballot boxes in one area and polling booths in another and in some of the more remote rural regions voters were prevented from getting to polling stations but there was not the national disruption of voting that was feared.

Commentators believe that the Farc are keeping their powder dry for the presidential election in May as they have stated their total opposition to the re-election of Mr Uribe, who is backed by Washington.

A strong showing for Mr Uribe's coalition may indicate he will win the presidential contest in the first round, our correspondent adds.

He appears to have won his first working majority in the Senate at least while the losers appear to be the traditional liberal and conservative parties.

The liberals are bitterly divided and the conservatives have thrown in their lot with Mr Uribe as their only chance of political survival, according to our correspondent.

[metalero]

Uribe's parties seats: Conservative party (18), social Unity party (20), radical change party (15), Alas colombia equipement (5), Colombia alive (2), Democratic Colombia (2), citizen convergence (7)

Opposition parties: Liberal (some of them support uribe) (17) and the Alternative democratic pole (left coalition) (11).

http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/proy_2005/ele...05-2788689.html (http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/proy_2005/elecciones2006/elecc_senado/noticias/ARTICULO-WEB-INTERNA_SECCION_PROY_2005-2788689.html)