In an effort to purify the lists and under the principle ‘in truth and good faith’ the Conservative Party refused to back nine people aspiring to run, as Conservatives, for the House and the Senate in different departments. The decision comes after the party asked the National Controller, the Inspector General and the Attorney General to provide background information on criminal and/or disciplinary investigations involving the names of all aspiring candidates. Two politicians from Antioquia are on the list.

If Colombia’s presidential elections were held tomorrow without current Alvaro Uribe as a candidate, the latest Gallup poll shows that victory would go to ‘uribista’ Juan Manuel Santos with 36 per cent, followed by independent Sergio Fajardo, with 31 per cent.

In the first round the two front runners would be up against the Democratic Pole’s Carlos Gaviria, who would obtain 10 per cent of the votes and German Vargas Lleras, 9 per cent.

Gallup’s surveyed the 1,000 voters in Bogotá, Medellin, Barranquilla and Cali. Jorge Londoño, manager of Gallup, said the survey creates a scenario for three possible alliances in the first round of elections: the ‘uribista’ parties (U Party, Alas Equipo and the Conservative Party); Liberals with an anti-reelection uribista, German Vargas Lleras; and the independents.

Conservative pre-presidential candidate, Andres Felipe Arias, is touring several of Antioquia’s municipalities to present parts of his program’s agenda.

Arias has three specific initiatives for Medellin in the areas of employment, education and security; he said his goal is to “change the course of the city because we are doing poorly”.

Arias not only wants to win the Conservative Party’s internal consult on September 27, but also hopes to get more votes than whoever wins in the Liberal or Democratic Pole’s consults.