[NYTr] Colombia's Pres Uribe Kicks Off Election Crusade

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Colombian President Kicks Off Election Crusade

Bogota, Oct 23 (Prensa Latina) Colombian President Alvaro Uribe kicked
off a personal crusade in favor of regional elections next Sunday, in
order to encourage citizens to fight abstentionism and to monitor
security.

The government plans to turn the voting into a political success for
governors, mayors and council people, but in order to achieve that
goal, it must counter the violence and corruption that characterize
Colombia's elections.

Uribe described his tour of the departments of Caldas, Valle del Cauca,
Caqueta, Antioquia, Cauca, Magdalena and Cesar, where he will invite
voters to go to the polls, as a week of democracy.

Speaking in the town of Riosucio, in Caldas, Uribe said that the Police
and the army would increase their forces on Sunday, so that people can
vote "without coercion and with democratic devotion."

On October 28, 27.5 million Colombians will elect 32 governors, 418
deputies to the departmental assemblies, more than 1,000 mayors and
12,000 council people among 86,000 candidates.

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