Colombia: Colombian President Alvaro Uribe suffered a major setback yesterday when 75 per cent of voters stayed away from the polls rather than cast a vote in a referendum aimed at implementing a political reform package that would cut social spending and reduce the number of deputies in parliament.
President Uribe's referendum asked citizens to approve 15 proposals, including a freeze in state salaries for two years. The referendum required a 25 per cent turnout to be valid and with 97 per cent of votes counted, the outcome hung by a thread, as just 24.4 per cent of citizens had voted in favour of the reforms.
President Uribe anticipated a saving of US$7 billion in state revenues, part of which would offset the increasingly expensive military campaign against left-wing rebels.
The result is particularly disappointing as President Uribe, with an approval rate estimated at 70 per cent, warned voters that rejection of the reform package could lead to an economic collapse similar to that suffered by Argentina in 2001.
The abstention campaign was led by trade unions and farmer organisations. Colombia's FARC rebels sabotaged the referendum by attacking a military base, ambushing police patrols, setting off a bomb and blocking a major highway. At least 13 people died in the violence.
Colombians returned to the polls yesterday to elect state governors, mayors, regional deputies and city council members. Luis Eduardo Garzon, a left-wing trade unionist and a harsh critic of President Uribe's war on terror, is tipped to become mayor of Bogota in what would be a further upset to Mr Uribe's political programme.
On the eve of yesterday's vote, a prominent electoral monitor, Armando Novoa, resigned his post, denouncing irregularities that he claimed could facilitate electoral fraud by the government. Mr Novoa denounced alleged political nepotism in the appointment of election booth jurors, the "fattening" of voter lists with phantom names and the refusal to enforce a court order that would have prevented a disgraced conservative candidate from running for office for five years.
The regional elections have also been marred by violence as 30 candidates have been killed and a dozen kidnapped while one in every five has received a death threat. In several states, right-wing paramilitaries have forced all contenders out of the race except their own.
The regional election is regarded as a plebiscite over President Uribe's "democratic security" project, which has restricted civil liberties and sought a military victory over left-wing rebels.