(05/12/09) -

Solid Numbers for Uribe in Colombia

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The strong public backing for Colombian president Álvaro Uribe has not budged since late last year, according to a poll by Invamer Gallup published in Semana. 71 per cent of respondents approve of Uribe’s performance, up one point since November.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The strong public backing for Colombian president Álvaro Uribe has not budged since late last year, according to a poll by Invamer Gallup published in Semana. 71 per cent of respondents approve of Uribe’s performance, up one point since November.

Uribe has been Colombia’s president since August 2002. In the May 2006 election, he won a new four-year term with 62.2 per cent of all cast ballots. He was able to run again after pro-Uribe lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Constitutional Court officially sanctioned a plan to allow immediate presidential re-election. After issuing its ruling, the court warned that the clause was not valid for the unlimited re-election of the head of state. Uribe would require a new constitutional amendment to run again.

Uribe has been commended for improving the economy and for his security policies, especially his hard stand against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a radical left-wing armed group. However, his administration is currently under great strain. More than 70 lawmakers—85 per cent of whom are Uribe supporters—are being investigated for alleged ties with right-wing, illegal paramilitary armies, and 31 of them are either detained or already serving time in jail. The accusations range from receiving the backing of war lords for electoral benefits, to directly participating in select killings and massacres for political or economic purposes. Uribe’s first cousin and close political ally, Mario Uribe, is one of the lawmakers tied to the scandal.

Colombia’s Congress is currently pondering two options to allow Uribe to extend his tenure. One of them entails bypassing a constitutional reform by holding a nationwide referendum on whether the president should stay in office for another four years. The second proposal seeks to enact a constitutional amendment that would allow Uribe to become a candidate in 2014, but not in 2010, when the next election is due. Either option would have to be approved by legislators, and then sanctioned by the Constitutional Court. The president himself has not clearly stated whether he wants to run for office again.

Yesterday, Colombian senator Zulema Jattin—a close Uribe ally—was arrested and accused of having links with paramilitary death squads. Jattin was later interrogated by members of the Supreme Court, which is in charge of all investigations related to the so-called "parapolitics" scandal. The senator said her arrest felt more like a "kidnapping by what this country calls the Supreme Court of Justice."

Polling Data

Do you approve or disapprove of Álvaro Uribe’s performance as president?

Source: Invamer Gallup / Semana
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 Colombian adults in Bogotá, Medellín, Cali and Barranquilla, conducted from May 1 to May 5, 2009. Margin of error is 3.5 per cent.