One week before Colombia’s May 30 elections, candidates for the 2010-2014 presidency were forced by law to end their campaigns. The latest polls are too close to predict who will win the most contested elections in the country’s modern history.
In the last seven days before the elections, none of the candidates is allowed to organize or attend rallies. The presidential hopefuls are allowed to continue promoting themselves through advertisement and interviews with the media.
The polls are inconclusive about who has the most chance of succeeding Alvaro Uribe, who has led the country since 2002. The four main pollsters conclude that government-candidate Juan Manuel Santos will win the first round, but that a second round will be necessary. Three of the pollsters say this second round will be won by outsider Antanas Mockus, while one says the second round will also be won by Santos.
Santos toured the country on the last day of the campaign, attending rallies in the southern city of Cali, the northern town of El Plato, El Banco in the north east and Caribbean coastal town Cartagena.
Mockus was present at a rally on Bogota’s central Plaza Bolivar. Despite heavy rains, thousands of his supporters attended the event.
The first round of the elections will be held on May 30. A second round will follow on June 20 if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote.