Unsuccessful Liberal Party presidential candidate Rafael Pardo told Caracol Radio that his party is not seeking a “bureaucratic” alliance with Juan Manuel Santos because it is unclear what the “Uribista’s” proposal of “a government of national unity” entails.
Pardo denied suggestions by Colombian media that he and the Liberals are after positions in Santos’ government. The Liberal leader said that his party “want to know in greater detail what exactly a ‘government of national unity’ is” because “the Liberal Party does not want to enter blindly” into an agreement with the Partido de la U candidate.
“Santos has not said he is interested in an electoral alliance, but rather in a government of national unity,” Pardo said, and asked the former defense minister to clarify what he means by this term.
Pardo said that in principle he would prefer to let his supporters choose for themselves who to vote for in the second round runoff election.
Because no candidate received the majority vote needed to win Sunday’s first round election outright, the two most popular candidates, Santos and Antanas Mockus, will now face-off in a second round election scheduled for June 20.
In Sunday’s election Santos received 46.56% of the vote, and Mockus 21.49%, which suggests that while Mockus needs to form second round alliances with failed presidential candidates in order to win, Santos does not.