Sunday, 20 June 2010 00:29 UK
Governing party candidate Juan Manuel Santos has won the final round of Colombia’s presidential elections.
With almost all the votes counted, Mr Santos was ahead of his rival Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus by more than 40 points.
Mr Santos, an ex-defence minister who backs outgoing President Alvaro Uribe’s tough line on security, won 69% percent of the votes.
A former mayor of Bogota, Mr Mockus won 27.5% of the ballots, and has conceded.
Opinion polls conducted ahead of the election had predicted a win for Mr Santos, who had also led in the first round.
Uribe’s heir
Mr Santos, standing for Mr Uribe’s Social National Unity Party, has portrayed himself as the heir to the outgoing president, whose approval ratings remain as high as 60% even after eight years in office.
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Analysis
BBC News, Bogota
Colombians have voted overwhelmingly for a continuation of the government’s tough security policy with the election of the former defence minister.
While turnout was low, with less than 50% casting their votes, Mr Santos still has a strong mandate to govern.
He also has a healthy majority in Congress, putting him in a strong position to carry out his policies.
Antanas Mockus of the Green Party did manage to generate a great deal of enthusiasm early in the campaign. However, Colombians opted for a safe pair of hands.
They do not want to see the country return to the situation of eight years ago, when rebels were encamped on the outskirts of cities and kidnappings ran at eight a day.
Mr Uribe had hoped to seek a third term himself, but proposals to change the country’s constitution to allow him to stand again were ruled illegal by Colombia’s Constitutional Court.
Mr Uribe’s supporters transferred their backing to Mr Santos, giving him a broad support base.
Nonetheless, Mr Santos failed to reach the 50% threshold for an outright win in the first round on 30 May, and so had to face Mr Mockus in this second round of voting.
Antanas Mockus, who said in his campaign he wanted to end the corruption scandals that swirled around the Uribe government, congratulated Mr Santos on his win.
He said Colombians could continue to count on the Green Party to turn Colombian politics into something its citizens could be proud of.
He said the would not let down the millions of people who had put their hopes in his party.
He also gave his condolences to the families of 10 members of the security forces killed on election day.
Seven police died in the north-east of the country in an ambush blamed on left-wing ELN rebels.
And three soldiers were killed in battles with Colombia’s main rebel group, the Farc.
But correspondents say the level of violence was much lower than in previous presidential elections, when Colombia’s rebel groups managed to seriously disrupt voting with attacks across the country.
from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_america/10362250.stm
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Juan Manuel Santos was born on August 10th, 1951 according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Manuel_Santos
August 10th
8 + 10 +2+0+0+9 = 29 = his personal year (from August 10th, 2009 to August 9th, 2010) = Self-confidence. Self-assurance. Skills. Talents. Competence. Expertise. Specialty. Combine. Teamwork. Cooperation. Collaborate. Collaboration. Consult. Consultant. Participation. Participant. Architect. Blueprint.
29 year + 6 (June) = 35 = his personal month (from June 10th, 2010 to July 9th, 2010) = Perseverance. Persistence. Continue. Endurance. Stamina. Resilience. Defense. Preparations. Ready. Inheritance. Heir.
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August 10th, 1951
10 +1+9+5+1 = 26 = Popularity. Charisma. Enthusiasm. In the news.
numerology behind the news 