Too much continuity?
Juan Manuel Santos (pictured) was elected as the heir to a popular incumbent. His hardest task will be correcting Álvaro Uribe’s excesses
THERE were no surprises this time. In the first round of Colombia's presidential election on May 30th, Juan Manuel Santos, the former defence minister of the current president, Álvaro Uribe, took 47% of the vote—making fools of opinion pollsters who had him tied with Antanas Mockus, who got just 22%. The run-off on June 20th duly turned into a formality: Mr Santos won 69% of the vote and will have a strong mandate once he becomes president on August 7th.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Too much continuity?"
From the June 26th 2010 edition
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