MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

President Uribe seems unbeatable next May 28

Less than two weeks from polling day, a Colombian presidential candidate who promised to end the country's internal conflict in six months is walking out of the race.

"I'm giving up my candidacy because of the lack of guarantees and funds", said Alvaro Leyva thus ending his brief two months incursion into electoral politics.

He never managed more than 1% of vote intention and claims he was under surveillance by the Colombian government security forces who believed he was in dealings with the country's main guerrilla force, the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC. Actually he's one of the few Colombian politicians who have direct access to FARC leadership.

Banks also denied advancing money for the campaign since he had less than 4% of vote intention, the minimum needed to receive government electoral assistance.

The Colombian presidential election is scheduled for May 28, but so far has not attracted much interest from voters since all public opinion polls coincide that president Alvaro Uribe will be comfortably voted in for a second four year period.

The latest survey shows that if the election had been held May 11, President Uribe would have won with 58.5% of the vote, two points above the previous week.

The Datexto Company poll with a plus/minus error of 3.7 points gives runner up Carlos Gaviria 12.8% and Liberal Horacio Serpa 6%.

Incumbent Uribe, 53, Harvard educated and no nonsense politician has adopted a hard line with the Marxist guerrillas and right wing groups, and is Washington's staunchest ally in the region.

"We want no left, no right, just modern democracy. No disguised Communism, no neo-liberalism, we want pluralist democracy, with open debate, with an economy led by the private sector, Christian and fraternal in its production relations", has been the message of President Uribe all along his campaign.

However he has been attacked for having signed a free trade agreement with United States.

Runner up Gaviria from the left wing Democratic Alternative Pole, (which includes from Communists to Social democrats), claims the free trade agreement is "a historic mistake", because it will only bring pain and losses for Colombia.

But as public opinion polls show the attacks have had a limited impact since the main concern of the Colombian electorate in unemployment and ending the country's violence.