COLOMBIA: POLLING STATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY CLOSE AFTER FULL DAY OF VOTING IN 15-POINT REFERENDUM
Record ID:
588533
COLOMBIA: POLLING STATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY CLOSE AFTER FULL DAY OF VOTING IN 15-POINT REFERENDUM
- Title: COLOMBIA: POLLING STATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY CLOSE AFTER FULL DAY OF VOTING IN 15-POINT REFERENDUM
- Date: 25th October 2003
- Summary: (W1)BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 25, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. GENERAL VIEW OF POLLING STATION 0.04 2. PEOPLE GATHERED OUTSIDE STATION, COMPLAINING THAT THEY DIDN'T GET A CHANCE TO VOTE 0.09 3. VARIOUS OF VOTERS PROTESTING ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO VOTE (2 SHOTS) 0.18 4. VARIOUS OF WORKERS COUNTING BALLOTS (6 SHOTS) 0.50 (W1)BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 25, 2003) (GOVERNMENT TV - ACCESS ALL) 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ALMA BEATRIZ RENGIFO, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE NATIONAL REGISTRY, SAYING: "As of this moment, the 450,000 (electoral) jurors will begin counting the votes." 1.04 (W1)CAUCA, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 25, 2003) (RCN - NO ACCESS COLOMBIA) 6. VARIOUS OF POLICE ON GROUND BATTLING REBELS (2 SHOTS) 1.15 7. VARIOUS OF BATTLE BETWEEN POLICE AND REBELS (4 SHOTS) 1.36 8. INJURED SOLDIERS BEING TAKEN AWAY BY HELICOPTER (2 SHOTS) 1.48 (W1)BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 25, 2003) (RCN - NO ACCESS COLOMBIA) 9. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) JORGE ENRIQUE MORA, COMMANDER OF MILITARY FORCES IN BOGOTA, SAYING: "The incidents that we have had are not of any significant magnitude nor of any importance, they were completely manageable incidents and did not represent any obstacles in the normal progression of the voting. Today, Colombia defeated the bandits, today we demonstrated to the bandits that we are immensely superior to them and we moved forward and we demonstrated that Colombia's democracy is strong." 2.10 (W1)CAUCA, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 25, 2003) (RCN - NO ACCESS COLOMBIA) 10. VARIOUS OF AERIALS OF TOWN FROM MILITARY HELICOPTER (3 SHOTS) 2.27 (W1)ANTIOQUIA, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 25, 2003) (RCN - NO ACCESS COLOMBIA) 11. VARIOUS OF AFTERMATH OF ATTACK ON MILK FACTORY (8 SHOTS) 3.19 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 9th November 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BOGOTA, CAUCA AND ANTIOQUIA, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Reuters ID: LVAAHB5RG1ZYWNCAX2HHD39EHXE3
- Story Text: Polling stations across Colombia have
closed after a full day of voting
Polling stages across Colombia closed on Saturday
(October 25) evening after a full day of voting in a
referendum that President Alvaro Uribe hopes will save
billions of dollars and fight corruption.
Uribe, a right-winger whose tough stance against rebels
has made him highly popular, has campaigned furiously for
Colombians to approve the complicated 15-point referendum.
He says it will reduce graft as well as save money for
spending on schools and hospitals by limiting government
wages.
Trade unions and left-leaning politicians, who argue
the measures being voted on in the referendum would hurt
the poor, are telling people to abstain.
Small groups of Colombians arrived late one polling
station in Bogota and were not allowed to vote, prompting
chants and protests.
Opinion polls showed the result was hanging in the
balance, with the possibility it could be invalid if fewer
than 25 percent of voters participate in the ballot.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a rebel
army known by the Spanish initials FARC which regularly
disrupts elections, killed six policeman and a soldier in
three suspected attacks, the police said.
A bomb hidden in a milk can also killed six civilians
at a dairy processing plant in Antioquia province, in
another attack authorities blamed on the FARC.
Suspected rebels burned trucks and cars on some
highways and blew up a bridge in northern Colombia.
The army said the guerrillas had not managed to disrupt
voting and Uribe called on voters not to be intimidated.
The government has deployed 270,000 soldiers and police
to protect voters over the electoral weekend, which
culminates with votes for municipal and regional
governments on Sunday.
The FARC and far-right paramilitary vigilantes have
murdered about 30 candidates in the past few months.
Uribe has warned that public finances, depleted by a
four-decade-old guerrilla war, could topple into a crisis
like the one that shook Argentina if the vote does not
pass.
But the referendum's complex, technical questions are
only vaguely, if at all, understood by the majority.
Most of the $7 billion the government wants to save
over the next seven years comes from a question proposing a
two-year freeze on wages for government employees earning
at least twice the minimum wage. Others include proposals
to reduce the size of Congress and make legislators' votes
public.
Opinion polls show it is not clear if 25 percent of
voters would participate in the referendum, the results of
which should be available a few hours after booths close at
4 P.M. (5 P.M. EST/2100 GMT).
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None