(11/13/09) -

Popularity of Uribe Suffers Blow in Colombia

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The popularity of Colombian president Álvaro Uribe has seen an unusual sharp drop, according to a poll by Invamer Gallup published in Semana. 64 per cent of respondents approve of Uribe’s performance, down seven points since May.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The popularity of Colombian president Álvaro Uribe has seen an unusual sharp drop, according to a poll by Invamer Gallup published in Semana. 64 per cent of respondents approve of Uribe’s performance, down seven points since May.

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. Seventy-one lawmakers—85 per cent of whom are Uribe supporters—are being investigated for alleged ties with right-wing, illegal paramilitary armies; 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.

A group of Uribe supporters has gathered enough signatures to call a nationwide referendum on whether the current president should be allowed to run for re-election again in 2014. In September, Congress approved the referendum bill in a late-night session boycotted by members of the opposition. The Constitutional Court is currently studying the validity of the referendum.

The president himself has not clearly stated whether he wants to run for office again, but he actively pushed allied lawmakers and his own cabinet ministers to pass the referendum bill in Congress.

Since last month, the Colombian government has been involved in a major scandal over the allocation of agricultural subsidies. News reports emerged that former agriculture minister and close Uribe ally Andrés Felipe Arias gave funds destined to peasants and small farmers to powerful landowners instead—many of whom have contributed to Uribe’s campaigns and some of whom have proven ties to paramilitary death squads.

Congress is currently holding hearings to determine whether Arias should be punished, and whether his successor, Andrés Fernández, should be forced to resign. Arias is a presidential candidate for the 2010 election, but has said that he will support Uribe’s bid if the president wants to run for a third time.

On Oct. 29, Conservative Party (PC) presidential hopeful Alvaro Leyva Durán complained that Arias and Uribe both have an unfair advantage over other candidates, declaring that the incumbent "is a de facto candidate who has at his disposal a number of means that the others don’t have," and adding, "This is a breach of the rules of democracy."

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 Oct. 28 to Nov. 2, 2009. Margin of error is 3.5 per cent.