Colombia President Alvaro Uribe, a Key U.S. Ally, Is Re-Elected in a Landslide


Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe watches the ID's of his sons, Jeronimo, left, and Tomas, center as he lines up to vote during presidential elections in Bogota, Sunday, May 28, 2006. Uribe is running for re-election. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
05-28-2006 5:53 PM
By JOSHUA GOODMAN, Associated Press writer

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Law-and-order President Alvaro Uribe was re-elected in a landslide Sunday in Colombia's most peaceful elections in more than a decade, strengthening the U.S. ally's mandate to crack down on armed groups and drug traffickers.

With 85 percent of ballots counted, the conservative Uribe scored a stronger than expected 62 percent of the vote, according to official results. He easily surpassed the 50 percent needed to win in the first round, marking the first time in more than a century that an incumbent Colombian leader has been elected to a second term.

Confirming the rise of the democratic left in this violence-wracked South American nation, Sen. Carlos Gaviria of the leftist Alternative Democratic Pole party received 22 percent of the vote. Trailing Gaviria in third place was Horacio Serpa of the century-old Liberal Party, with just below 12 percent.