Colombia votes in regional election after violent campaign

Oct 29, 2007, 0:11 GMT

Bogota - Colombians elected regional and local officials Sunday, after a violent campaign in which at least 30 candidates were murdered.

Some 27.5 million voters voted for 32 governors, 1,098 mayors, 418 regional legislators and 12,030 members of local councils. There were a total of 86,449 candidates.

'The report is that people are defeating fear,' said former Argentine foreign minister Dante Caputo, leader of a 125-strong observer mission from the Organization of American States.

'There are problems, there is no denying that. But the important thing is that neither the threats, nor the kidnappings, nor the actions with homemade bombs have scared off people,' Caputo stressed.

The left-wing opposition to conservative President Alvaro Uribe appeared set to retain power in Bogota, with close to 31 per cent of the votes counted.

Samuel Moreno obtained 42 per cent of the ballots in the mayoral election in the capital Bogota, relegating Enrique Penalosa - backed by Uribe - to 29 per cent, and analysts expected the trend to be maintained as more votes were counted.

The left already governed Bogota since 2003.

The Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the extreme-right paramilitaries and other armed groups targetted candidates for killing in recent weeks.

According to observers from the Organization of American States, some 576 towns showed worrying levels of violence ahead of the elections.

For over 40 years, Colombia has been deeply troubled by an internal conflict in which drug trafficking plays an important role.