Uribe's heir in Colombia wins presidential landslide (2nd Roundup)

Jun 21, 2010, 5:32 GMT

Bogota - Conservative candidate Juan Manuel Santos won Colombia's presidential runoff by a landslide and told the highly popular man he is to replace, Alvaro Uribe, 'This is your triumph, too.'

The former defence minister who led the Uribe government's fight against the South American country's leftist rebel groups won 69 per cent of Sunday's votes against Antanas Mockus, a former Bogota mayor who had been a huge underdog in the second-round vote. It was the best election result for a president in Colombia's democratic history.

Mockus thanked his mentor Uribe in his victory speech before 5,000 cheering supporters in Bogota. 'Today, Columbians have voted overwhelmingly to continue your programme,' he said Sunday.

Santos, 58, had been widely favoured. After falling short of an outright majority with nearly 47 per cent in the first round, pre-runoff surveys had shown him winning nearly two-thirds of the vote.

Mockus, an independent candidate for the Green Party, was a distant second place at 21.5 per cent in the first-round election on May 30. He pulled more votes in the runoff at 27.5 per cent, according to election commission tallies.

The philosopher and mathematician congratulated his opponent, wished him success and spoke of a fair opposition that was ready to cooperate with the government.

The election was overshadowed by violence and a low voter turnout of about 45 per cent.

Fighters with the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia (FARC) rebel group fatally shot two soldiers carrying voting documents to a remote community in the central department of Meta, the government said. Another seven soldiers died in a minefield in the department of Norte de Santander near the border with Venezuela, it said.

The army said it also killed six FARC guerrillas who were accused of planning attacks.

A total of 350,000 police and soldiers were deployed to provide security for the election.

Santos pointedly excluded the Marxist FARC from his message of national unity and an 'end of hate.'

'FARC's time is over,' he said. 'Colombia is leaving behind the nightmare of kidnappings and violence. If they again use terrorist methods, if they again attack the people, there will be no more negotiations.'

At the same time, he urged the rebels to free their remaining hostages without conditions while remaining close to the policies of Uribe, who enjoyed high popularity ratings primarily because of his uncompromising offensive against the guerrillas, who have been waging a nearly five-decade civil war.

Santos, who is slated to begin a four-year presidential term on August 7, has pledged a seamless continuation of the policies of Uribe, who was barred from running for a third-term by constitutional restrictions.

Political commentators said that the perceived inevitability of Santos' victory depressed voter participation along with rainy weather and the live broadcast of the national football team from neighbouring Brazil playing in the World Cup in South Africa.