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Ruling Liberals take early lead in Colombia voting
Colombia saw a 30 percent voter turnout, the same as the last congressional election 19 killed in rebel attacks during Sunday election
March 8, 1998
Web posted at: 8:32 p.m. EST (0132 GMT)BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- About 30 percent of Colombia's voters turned out Sunday in a violence-scarred congressional election in which as many as 19 people died in attacks by leftist rebels trying to disrupt the balloting.
Early results showed the ruling Liberal Party of President Ernesto Samper set to retain control of both houses of Congress, as expected, despite a scandal over Samper's alleged ties to drug money.
With 2.6 million ballots, or more than 11 percent of potential votes in the race for the Senate already counted, the officials said the Liberals had taken a huge lead with 1.03 million votes.
In a distant second place was the main opposition Conservative Party, with 388,034 votes. Third place was held by Liberal Oxigen Movement, a dissident faction of the Liberal Party, with 50,998 votes.
Official results from voting for the lower House of Representatives were not immediately available.
200,000 security troops were mobilized nationwide Vote held amid bloody leftist offensive
Police and military officials said that rebel attacks in roughly half of the country's 32 provinces led to the deaths of at least 19 soldiers and guerrillas. The worst fighting was in Meta, east of Bogota, where five soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a rebel attack.
Rebel interference forced the cancellation of the vote in at least 11 municipalities. At least three candidates and 10 mayors were kidnapped as the election approached. A car bomb was found and deactivated outside a police post in Silvania, 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of the capital.
The election was held amid one of the bloodiest offensives in the 35 years of insurgency by leftist groups. Last week, rebels said they killed 80 crack counterinsurgency troops and took 43 prisoners in the southern province of Caqueta.
About 100,000 in Caqueta were without power Sunday after rebels dynamited an electrical tower.
Still, government officials downplayed the election violence, describing the situation as normal in a country long accustomed to war.
"There have been some isolated incidents," Interior Minister Alfonso Lopez Caballero said. "But there hasn't been anything dramatic to speak of." He said people in about 99 percent of the country's municipalities were able to vote.
"This has been highly positive for democracy and for the country," said Gen. Mario Hugo Galan, commander of the army.
Despite a plea by Samper for massive participation by Colombians in the vote to send a message to the leftist rebel groups, only about 30 percent of eligible voters turned out Sunday, according to estimates. That is about the same as the turnout in the last congressional election in 1994.
Congress is widely considered the most corrupt institution in Colombia Campaign marred by vote buying, drug money
Colombians were choosing 102 senators and 161 representatives to replace a sitting Congress that is widely seen as one of the country's most corrupt institutions.
The campaign was marred by reports of vote buying and infusions of money by drug kingpins. About 240 of the 7,000 candidates on the ballot are under criminal investigation, including Senate President Amylkar Acosta.
Liberals currently hold twice as many congressional seats as the main opposition party, the Conservatives. But incumbents may be hurt by charges that Samper knowingly accepted $6 million from drug lords in his 1994 campaign. The current Congress absolved him of any wrongdoing.
First-time candidates running on an anti-establishment line included several newspaper columnists, Indian leaders and movie director Sergio Cabrera, a former guerrilla.
At one polling station in an upper middle-class area of Bogota, many said they were sick of corruption.
"I voted for Ernesto Samper and I feel betrayed by him," said Zoila Ruiz, a 50-year-old teacher.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Colombian election begins amid surge in rebel violence - March 8, 1998
- Colombia prepares for elections despite violence - March 7, 1998
- U.S. lifts economic sanctions against Colombia - February 26, 1998
- El Ni–o brings drought to Colombia - February 9, 1998
Related sites:
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- Latin-American Student Organization: Republic of Colombia - Colorado State University
- Latin America on the Net: Colombia Information - Latin World
- Colombia General Information
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