MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombia's Uribe poised to be re-elected Sunday

Next Sunday Colombians will be voting for president among six candidates with President Alvaro Uribe favourite and well ahead in the public opinion polls, which will possibly avoid a runoff June 18.

A total of 26.7 million Colombians are entitled to vote but given the long standing high electoral abstention it is estimated that just over 50% will actually turn up at the polls. Furthermore surveys show President Uribe who had the constitution amended so he could be re-elected, comfortably leading with 55 to 60% of vote intention.

Mr. Uribe was first elected in 2002 promising a "strong hand and big heart" under the banner of "First Colombia". Although unable to break the back of the guerrilla movement that controls a fifth of the country' territory and is mostly financed by the drug trade, his hard line approach has helped reduce the level of violence and killings, and in the ongoing fighting the government has regained the initiative with strong political and military United States support.

This has made the actual campaigning quite dull since Mr. Uribe is clearly a favourite and has turned down all debating challenges.

However the most effective opposition has come from the Marxist oriented guerrilla/terrorist groups FARC which have stepped up random killing, violence and arson with the intent of showing that President Uribe's alleged strong hold and "security" are extremely vulnerable and weak.

Uribe's main opposing candidates are Horacio Serpa, a former minister from the Liberal Party who is running for the third time and who was defeated in 1998 and 2002, and Carlos Gaviria, a distinguished Law professor from the left wing Alternative Democratic Pole, hastily organized for this election and which rapidly soared to a solid second place.

Surveys indicate that if a runoff is needed, Mr. Uribe's opponent will be Mr. Gaviria.

An estimated 300.000 troops are to be displayed over the weekend to ensure voting evolves as normal as possible.

The FARC guerrilla/terrorists describe Uribe as the "Judas of Latinamerica" for his close alliance with United States in such issues as supporting the Iraq conflict and the signing of a free trade agreement with Washington which has virtually paralyzed the Andean Community of Nations, made up of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.

Born in 1952 in the northwestern province of Antioquia, Uribe earned a masters degree in Business Administration from Harvard University and was later a senior associate member at Oxford University on a British Council scholarship.

Uribe is an avid horseman, devoted yoga practitioner and enjoys meditation. He is a work-alcoholic and fiery orator when it comes to defending his ideas.

His life has been indelibly marked by the death of his father, a wealthy landowner and cattle rancher who was killed by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas during a 1983 kidnapping attempt.

Having survived several attempts on his life by Colombia's largest terrorist group, Uribe moves around at all times with a small army of some 50 bodyguards.