|
|
|
Map of Central America |
Email this citationCIAO DATE: 07/06
Uribe's Re-Election: Can the EU Help Colombia Develop a More Balanced Peace Strategy?
June 2006
Abstract
On 28 May 2006, President Alvaro Uribe won a second four-year term with 62 per cent of the vote, well ahead of the candidates of the centre-left Polo Democrático Alternativo (PDA) coalition and the Liberal Party. This followed congressional elections on 12 March, which produced a majority for several new pro-Uribe parties, most importantly the Partido Social de Unidad Nacional (the U Party), as well as the Conservatives and Cambio Radical. Those elections, held under new rules introduced in 2003, severely diminished the traditionally strong Liberals and a number of smaller parties, while with eleven senators and eight lower house representatives, the PDA kept a relatively limited bloc.
The pro-Uribe congressional majority lacks programmatic depth and cohesion but the electoral outcome could hardly have been better for Uribe. His supporters argue that Colombia now has a chance to achieve a degree of policy continuity which they see as fundamental for ending the 40-year-old armed conflict. The challenges remain huge, however.
