Colombian presidential election, 2006

In Colombia, found on May 28 instead of 2006 presidential elections in which the incumbent, Álvaro Uribe Vélez was re-elected on the first ballot with 62.2 % of votes. His second term began on 7 August 2006.

Constitutional Reform Act 2004

Since 2003, the incumbent President Álvaro Uribe tried to change the constitution to allow for his re-election. He succeeded by a court order dated 19 October 2005, together with the " Ley de Garantías " (Spanish: Warranty Act), which was adopted on 1 November 2005 and confirmed by the Constitutional Court on 11 November. On November 27, 2005 Uribe announced his candidacy. He was thus the first President of Colombia, the re-election turns out.

Candidates

The choice was next to Uribe, the candidate of the Liberal Party, Horacio Serpa, the center-left candidate Carlos Gaviria from the Polo Democrático Alternativo and the former mayor of the capital Bogotá, Antanas Mockus, who raced for a small party of for the rights Indians used. Serpa has performed at the third time for the Liberal Party. The Conservative Party, the traditional antithesis of the Liberal Party, it was not possible due to internal disputes, establish a candidate; therefore they supported Uribe.

Álvaro Uribe came together with his Vice -President Francisco Santos Calderón to vote.

Horacio Serpa, who ran for the third time in a row for the Liberal Party for president, had prevailed in the internal party primary elections in March 2006 clearly against Rafael Pardo, Andrés González and Rodrigo Rivera. His candidate for the office of Vice President was Ivan Marulanda.

The senator and former Constitutional Court judge Carlos Gaviria Díaz, the candidate of the new Left Party Polo Democrático Alternativo approached together with writer Patricia Lara Sarive, after defeating Antonio Navarro Wolff its competitors surprising in the internal party primaries.

Antanas Mockus, a philosopher and former mayor of the capital Bogota, who had made himself a name as an independent politician, stepped in for the politically insignificant party Alianza Social Indígena. His candidate for the office of Vice President was María Isabel Patiño Osorio.

Furthermore, Enrique Parejo González, Álvaro Leyva Durán and Carlos Arturo Rincón Barreto took part in the election; but all of them reached less than 0.5% of the vote.

Electioneering

To be able to continue to provide non-party for election, Uribe had to collect what he easily reached with 1,318,262 signatures to 16 December 2005 on 360,000 signatures. Uribe's candidacy was supported by several newly founded parties ( Partido de la U, Cambio Radical, Alas Equipo Colombia and Colombia Democrática ).

As part of the " Ley de Garantías ", which was intended to prevent discrimination in favor of the incumbent over the other candidates, Uribe could begin his campaign until 28 January 2006. He had to withdraw before this date active from the public and the media for the same reason.

Due to the ongoing armed conflict for over forty years and the Uribe government crackdown against the FARC, the largest guerrilla group in the country, many feared Colombian and international observers a wave of violence before the presidential elections. In April 2006, attacks were carried out on the TransMilenio network in the capital, Bogotá, and an explosion occurred in a residential building in Bogotá, in which six people died. On 27 April 2006, Liliana Gaviria, the sister of the candidate of the Liberal Party, was killed after the FARC had previously tried unsuccessfully to kidnap her. Compared to previous elections, it remained relatively peaceful.

In the pre-election period, there was intimidation and threats by paramilitary groups, who appealed to President Uribe, against human rights organizations. Uribe has not distanced itself from these threats.

Election result

With 62 % of the vote, the highest value of the last 80 years, Álvaro Uribe was confirmed on May 29 in his office. For the second time, he was the first Colombian president to be elected in the first ballot. Even in absolute terms, it was with 7.3 million votes from all his predecessors. Serpa, the lowest election result of the Liberal Party for decades. The newly established left-wing party PDI reached a record with over two million votes. Therefore, observers speak of the final end of the traditional two-party system in Colombia.

The turnout fell compared to the previous election. 54.89 % of the electorate went from no voice, 53.53 % were in the last election in 2002 been.