Colombians go to polls in vote for presidential successor

COLOMBIANS voted for a successor to President Alvaro Uribe yesterday in what was expected to be a rout favouring a former defence minister who oversaw a major weakening of leftist rebels.

Juan Manuel Santos had a 37-point advantage in pre-election polls over political outsider and former Bogota Mayor Antanas Mockus.

Santos won 47% of the vote in the May 30 first round – just shy of the simple majority needed for victory.

He and Mockus had been neck-and-neck in some surveys but a series of gaffes torpedoed Mockus’ eccentric campaign.