Colombia chose a new president on 20 June this year. Juan Manuel Santos was elected with nine million votes, nearly 70 per cent of total votes. He even got more votes than Uribe in past presidential elections, mostly because Santos had to go for a second elections round to win, whereas Uribe got enough votes to win in the first round – Uribe won against three other candidates while Santos against just one. Santos’s popularity is attributed to his proximity to President Uribe and his achievements as his minister of defence. However, ever since the presidential elections Santos has shown that his administration won´t be as close to Uribe’s as voters thought. That has generated the first clashes between Uribe and Santos but has also increased Santos’s popularity. So, what do Colombians expect from the Santos administration?
Colombia’s new president will have massive support not only from voters but also from congress and political parties. After the first election round, Santos’s chosen strategy was to make alliances with all political parties. Since the beginning of his campaign he has called for ‘national unity’. His strategy was very successful. Santos got most of Vargas-Lleras’s votes, a candidate who used to be close to Uribe but didn´t support his attempt for a second re-election. The Santos/Vargas-Lleras alliance represented more than one million votes for the elected president and an appointment as minister of the interior for his ally. That is seen as Santos’s first movement disapproved of by President Uribe. However, it is highly approved of by voters because Vargas-Lleras is seen as a good politician, particularly after the election because he had the best and most complete government programme of all candidates.
Santos also achieved alliances with two traditional parties: the liberals and the conservatives. Both parties got their lowest share of the vote for many years. Cracks within parties discouraged voters from supporting candidates who weren’t representing an agreed government plan. Santos’s alliance with the liberals might have not won him many votes but it certainly showed a glimpse of his divergence from Uribe. Liberals played a strong part in opposition to Uribe’s administration. In fact, Rafael Pardo, the liberals’ leader rejected his party’s support of Santos mostly because he was one of the major opponents of President Uribe’s social policies and his attempt for re-election. However, now the majority of liberals in congress support our new president and defy their own leader.
Santos’s alliance with conservatives was not so much of a surprise. They had supported President Uribe since the beginning of his administration. Conservatives won a few ministers from the alliance: minister of mines and energy Carlos Rodado and minister of agriculture Juan Camilo Restrepo. However, the appointment of the minister of agriculture is not endorsed by Uribe. Restrepo was one of the toughest opponents of President Uribe He led the debate on the corruption scandal generated by the unequal distribution of a government aid for rural farmers. He accused Uribe of being disloyal with members of his cabinet and close to drug-traffickers. Now, Restrepo will be responsible for key policies seeking to tackle violence in rural areas, such as land reform and agriculture development. His work as a minister of agriculture will be crucial for the sustainability of Uribe´s legacy on security and restitution of the land and goods of forced displaced persons. Whether his work will be enough to improve living conditions in rural areas is uncertain but his policies will be definitely very different from Uribe’s.
Santos’s call for ‘national unity’ was appealing even for the leader of the left party. He did very well in the first round of elections, taking the fourth place after Santos, Mockus and Vargas-Lleras. Petro, the left party leader, approached Santos after his victory to discuss possible alliances. However, that movement cost him his job. Petro has been sacked from the left party and is now planning to set up a new socialist party.
The only candidate who rejected Santos’s alliances was Antanas Mockus. He is the leader of the Green party and got to the second elections round along with Santos. He lost, but got 27 percent of total votes (3.5 million votes). Although his followers were disappointed because at a certain point of the election process Mockus had a good chance of winning, the votes he got are one of the best outputs of these elections. He made the second round in just three months – his expectations were only raised at the congressional elections that took place in March this year (and for which final results were announced one day before senators took office!). He has promised to consolidate a strong opposition party, something which is needed in Colombia. His party will closely follow Santos’s administration and generate debate only when they disagree with it. They won’t make opposition just for the sake of it. The Green party’s opposition will be based on strong arguments and innovative proposals, which will certainly bring many followers and generate a positive political climate in the country.
Despite Santos’s distance from Uribe, our new candidate is becoming very popular among Colombians. His cabinet is formed by well prepared politicians, some coming from the private sector and experts in their areas. Santos has also openly announced changes from the previous administration. The most important are his willingness to improve foreign relations with Venezuela and Ecuador and to focus on tackling poverty and inequality. His message is that he will continue with Uribe’s good policies, mainly fighting guerrillas and promoting economic growth, but has been clear on the weaknesses from Uribe’s administration. Uribe’s legacy cannot be ignored. He changed the future of Colombia for good but didn’t do enough for the people. He brought security but failed in guaranteeing social justice. So far, Santos seems to be the leader Colombia needs to achieve sustainable security. The next four years of his administration will be decisive for the future of Colombia.