29-05-2014: Latin American Weekly Report

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos has it all to do if he is to secure re-election. The presidential elections on 25 May produced the expected top-two finish to contest a run-off on 15 June but Santos finished second, with just 25.69% of the vote, some 450,000 votes adrift of Óscar Iván Zuluaga, the candidate of former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010)’s Centro Democrático (CD), on 29.25%. Both men moved swiftly to try and win the endorsement of the parties of the three other candidates who performed strongly in the elections ahead of the second round. Encouraging more voters to turn out will be of even greater importance than forging alliances though: the clear winner on the day was abstention, which nudged 60%.