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Mockus: Not quite the man of the hour.

The results of the first round of Colombias presidential elections were a bit of a surprise.Polls had placed Mockus, the Green presidential candidate, neck and neck with Uribes

heir apparent, Manuel Santos. In the end Santos ot !ust o"er #$% of the "ote, more than

double the &'% obtained b( Mockus, makin it hihl( likel( that he will be the ne)tpresident of Colombia.

Mockus has an uphill, thouh not impossible battle, on his hands. The Colombianelectorate is fickle and not "er( ideoloical. In the conressional elections last March the

Greens obtained !ust o"er *+, "otes, but '.- million "oted in the internal

consultation to choose Mockus as the Greens candidate and now more than three million

"oted for him in the presidential elections. The poor conressional election results can bee)plained partl( b( corruption and the bu(in of "otes with cash pa(ments or promises

for schools, roads etc b( other parties. The presidential elections, thouh, are not

immune to a little bit of "ote riin. /ccordin to Gusta"o Petro, the candidate for the

Polo 0emocratico, appro)imatel( one million dollars was spent on bribin "oters in thefirst round, particularl( on the Caribbean coast. It is a common practice, e"en in 1oot2

where a "ote oes for ' to '* dollars with lunch thrown in for ood measure. 3owe"er,Colombians tend to inore local concerns and promises made when it comes to the

presidential elections.

The crowds that athered at Mockus post electoral rall( chanted 4It can be done5 and

the( are probabl( riht, it is possible thouh not probable. The Conser"ati"es ha"e all

but pleded their #% to Santos, the 6iberals are di"ided but the reional sections in

Santander and 7alle de Cauca ha"e publicl( stated the( will support Santos makin it allbut academic what Cambio 8adical and the Polo decide. Mockus needs to con"ince a

section of the more than *% of the electorate that did not "ote to turn out for him on9une &th.

1ut what of Mockus: Is he reall( the opposition to Uribe: ;hen the polls placed him on

a par with Santos there was a ti

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real debate. Gusta"o Petro declared that he wanted a o"ernment with no more

e)tra!udicial e)ecutions. Santos, who as Minister for 0efence, bore responsibilit( for the

so called Balse Positi"es, was able to !ust simpl( repl( 4So do I5 and there it stood.Mockus was able to et awa( with declarin that he couldnt recall what position he took

on Colombias aerial bombardment and in"asion of a B/8C camp in cuador. The

debates were not debates. Bor the purposes of this article I forced m(self to watch thepenultimate and final debate in their entiret( and at the end I was left with the feelin that

I should ha"e induled in the !o(s of cable and switched o"er to 0r 3ouse half wa(

throuh as I had done on pre"ious occasions. I did read the newspaper reports but the(were onl( slihtl( better than the debates.

Mockus popularit( is not the product of a profound challene to the politics of the last

eiht (ears. 9ust before the elections he declared to the press how much he admired theood work of Uribe and he like all of the other candidates, includin Petro, declared that

he would continue with Uribes polic( of 0emocratic Securit(. The contradiction

between this and his promise for ethical o"ernment or his sloan that life is sacred was

ne"er e)plored. 3e is "er( much a creation of the media. In man( wa(s his rapid riseparallels that of Uribe, a candidate who came out of nowhere to take the presidenc( in the

midst of a concerted media campain. Uribe won the && elections promisin