(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Colombia would accept a decision by Álvaro Uribe to run for a third consecutive term in office, according to a poll by Gallup published in El Tiempo. 74 per cent of respondents would agree with Uribe becoming a candidate in the 2010 election, while only 22 per cent disagree.

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 lawmakers—the vast majority of whom are Uribe supporters—are being investigated for alleged ties with right-wing, illegal paramilitary armies. 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 currently under investigation.

Earlier this month, Gustavo Petro—a prominent opposition lawmaker with the Democratic Independent Pole (PDI)—claimed that Uribe could become an authoritarian leader, saying, "The president can choose one of two paths: stay in power, because no one is going to contradict him; or finish his second term and go down in history as the man who brought the FARC to its knees."

Polling Data

Do you agree or disagree with Álvaro Uribe becoming a presidential candidate in the 2010 election?

Source: Gallup / El Tiempo
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,000 Colombian adults in the cities of Bogotá, Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla, conducted from Jun. 27 to Jun. 28, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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