Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won reelection Sunday, surviving a crucial test in his attempt to work out a peace deal with leftist FARC rebels to end the country’s 50-year-old civil war.
Santos defeated Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, a tough critic of the 18-month-old talks whose first-place finish in the opening round of voting last month forced Sunday’s runoff and threatened to derail negotiations with the guerrillas.
Read the rest here.
Colombians were voting on Sunday in the tightest presidential election in decades, a contest that will decide if the nation moves ahead on peace talks with Marxist FARC rebels or step up its battlefield offensive to end a 50-year war.
JOSE MIGUEL GOMEZ
President Juan Manuel Santos, who has cast the election as a choice between peace and war, faces right-wing challenger Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, a sceptic of talks, who nudged ahead of the incumbent in last month's first-round ballot.
The candidates are locked in a race that polls show is too close to call and may have the narrowest margin for 20 years.
Read the rest here.
Colombians vote on Sunday in a tightly fought presidential election that has seen the top two candidates tainted by scandal as they wrestle over the pivotal issue of how to end a five-decade insurgency by Marxist FARC rebels.
The battle for the presidential palace in Latin America's No. 4 economy is between incumbent leader Juan Manuel Santos and bitter rival Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, a right-wing economist whose late surge in polls has left them neck-and-neck.
JOSE MIGUEL GOMEZ
Read the rest here.
The leading opposition candidate in Colombia's presidential election next Sunday denied any role in a hacking scandal that has hurt his campaign, describing it as a trap set to derail his growing support.
Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, who has narrowly overtaken incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos in voter polls, was asked on Sunday to quit the race by an opponent and scores of legislators who said a video published over the weekend proved he had lied about spying accusations.
Read the rest here.
Spying and bribery allegations have marred the run-up to Colombia's presidential election with top advisors for both candidates resigning in a bitter campaign that could sour voter support just over two weeks from the ballot.
JOSE MIGUEL GOMEZ
Both President Juan Manuel Santos and his closest rival Oscar Ivan Zuluaga have been tarnished by mud-slinging between their camps, shifting attention in an election that was on track to be a referendum on the peace process with Marxist-led rebels.
Read the rest here.