Former President Alvaro Uribe will guarantee fair elections during the first primaries of his Uribe Democratic Center (UCD) party on Saturday, the three remaining candidates said Thursday.
At a press conference in Colombia’s capital Bogota, presidential hopefuls Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, Francisco Santos and Carlos Holmes Trujillo said that tensions within the party were resolved and that they were confident the party election would go smoothly.
Santos, a cousin of current president Juan Manuel Santos and the former vice-president during Uribe’s two administrations, had previously threatened to abandon the party after the UCD decided to not hold the primaries during the March congressional elections, but during a closed party summit.
MORE: Internal Divides Threaten Uribe’s New Political Party
However, in an attempt to display recovered unity, the three candidates unanimously rejected claims the party was in crisis over the primaries.
“The mechanism is agreed with by the three primary candidates,” said Zuluaga, Uribe’s former finance minister.
Santos confirmed this, saying “I am comfortable with the guarantees … Disregarding who will win, we will attempt to win the presidency together.”
Trujillo, Colombia’s former interior minister, said that the best guarantee for a fair primary election “is the presence of former President Alvaro Uribe.”
“The main guarantee for the success of the convention is the presence of former President Alvaro Uribe”
The UCD said on its website that Uribe will preside the summit that will be held at the Corferias convention center in the capital.
According to W Radio, the party is expecting some 1,300 people to show up at the first party summit and decide who will represent the former head of state’s ambition to “retake control” he lost amid a growing divide between him and his successor.
Colombia’s constitution does not allow Uribe to have a third run for the presidency. The controversial but still relatively popular politician instead announced to be running for the senate.
Sources
- Este 25 y 26 de octubre, Convención Nacional de “Uribe Centro Democrático” para elegir candidato único a la Presidencia de la República (Uribe Centro Democratico)
- Centro Democrático descartó división porque garantías en la convención “las da Uribe” (El Espectador)
- Todo Listo para convención del Uribe Centro Democrático (W Radio)