MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uribe on the crest of the wave considering a third mandate

Pte. Alvaro Uribe

An overwhelming majority of Colombians, 77%, support a second reelection of President Alvaro Uribe following the rescue of fifteen hostages last Wednesday including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, according to a public opinion poll released by the top circulation magazine Semana.

Uribe was first elected in 2002 for a four year mandate and reelected in 2006 following a constitutional amendment which opened the way for the second current mandate. According to the poll if Uribe was again candidate, 72% of Colombians would vote for him; 9% for the liberated Ingrid Betancourt and 3% for the mayor of the city of Medellín, Sergio Fajardo and another 3% for the former mayor of the capital Bogota, Antanas Mockus. The poll also indicates that if the choice was to be between Ms. Betancourt and Defence minister Juan Manuel Santos, who was responsible for the 15 hostages rescue, the former candidate would collect 52% of the vote and the minister 40%. The poll was done by the acknowledged Colombian Consulting Center and involved 1.151 phone calls with a margin error of 2.9%. Colombia's next presidential election will take place in 2010. For years Mr. Uribe has been the Latinamerican president with the most solid support in the range of 72 to 80%, but following the rescue operation his standing soared to 91%, according to a Bogotá's public opinion consultants RCN. The president's negative vote is 6% according to this poll. Uribe's success is based on his security policy and hard line attitude regarding the FARC rebel group which he promised to defeat militarily in 2002 when first elected. In the last six months Colombian forces have managed to kill or capture several of FARC seven member ruling body and to this must be added the natural death of the historical leader Pedro Antonio Marín, Marunlanda "Sure Shot". FARC is the oldest guerrilla movement in Latinamerica, almost five decades, originally Marxist oriented but then turned into a movement financed by drug barons and the cocaine trade with kidnapping as a side line. However if Mr Uribe pretends a third consecutive mandate he must again have the constitution reformed, at a moment when the procedure used for the first reelection in 2006 is currently under investigation by Colombia's Supreme Court.