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Colombia

Posted by Alexander (Guest) - Sunday, October 26 2003, 22:47:05 (EST)
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With almost all the ballot papers counted only just over 24% of the electorate had registered a vote on the point.

A quarter of all voters have to participate for the result to be valid.

The key question, which asked voters to approve a two-year salary freeze for state workers, received 80% approval, according to election officials.

BBC correspondent in Bogota James Menendez says although President Uribe's popularity is probably not at risk his political credibility certainly is.

Milk factory bomb

Saturday's poll was marked by the killing of at least 13 people by rebel forces.

A second vote to elect local officials is due to take place on Sunday.

As well as the deadly ambush on a police barracks, rebels from the biggest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), attacked an army base, killing one soldier and wounding two.

Turnout is crucial for the referendum result
There were also reports that rebels had blocked roads and kidnapped several election monitors.

In another incident, a bomb suspected to have been planted by rebels exploded outside a milk processing factory in the north-western town of Yarumal, killing six people.

"These threats will not interfere with Colombia's democratic fiesta," General Jorge Enrique Mora, the commander of Colombia's armed forces, told Colombian radio.

Call to abstain

The referendum aims to cut government spending and fight political corruption, a move backed by foreign investors.

REFERENDUM ISSUES
Freezing public workers' salaries
State pensions
Regional auditing offices
Funding education and healthcare
Destination of oil revenues
Congressional voting
Numbers of congressmen
Role of congress
Government funding of regional projects
But trade unions opposed the vote on the grounds that the reforms will make the poor worse off and called for people to abstain.

An opinion poll published by the daily El Tiempo has suggested that 20-28% of voters were likely to take part.

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott reporting from Medellin says rebel attacks have been restricted to the countryside where they hold sway.

In Sunday's local elections, former communist leader Luis Eduardo "Lucho" Garzon is narrowly leading the polls in the race for the mayor of Bogota.

If he wins, it will be a crucial victory for the Colombian left-wing and opponents of President Uribe's increasingly tough stand against the guerrillas.

Candidates killed

Some towns however have no mayoral candidates because of fear of reprisals from FARC rebels.

We must face down this terrorist threat that has no limits

President Alvaro Uribe

Q&A: Colombia's civil conflict

"No one is going to run in the elections thinking they will be killed," said Maria Clavijo, a councillor in Cabrera where the last mayor was killed in February.

Such killings are part of FARC's strategy of preventing the government from fully controlling the country.

At least 30 candidates were killed and a dozen kidnapped in the run-up to the election.

"We must face down this terrorist threat that has no limits," President Uribe told reporters on Saturday.

The government has warned that the country's finances could collapse if the referendum fails.

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