Former Colombian FM Wins Presidential Candidacy

2010-03-20 07:58:45 Xinhua Web Editor: Zhang Jin

Former Colombian foreign minister Noemi Sanin won presidential candidacy from the Conservative Party, officials said Friday.

Sanin, the only female presidential candidate, is expected to compete with front-runner Juan Manuel Santos in the presidential election on May 30.

Campaigning for the presidential election was heating up in February when Colombia's Constitutional Court rejected a referendum that would allow President Alvaro Uribe to seek re-election.

Former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos from the ruling National Unity party and Sergio Fajardo of the independent movement Citizen's Commitment for Colombia are the two top contenders.

As a former member of the Uribe administration, Santos is expected to have the president's backing in the upcoming elections.

In Sunday's parliamentary elections, Uribe's party won 24.2 percent of the vote while the allied Conservative Party got 22.3 percent after two-thirds of the vote had been counted.

The opposition Liberal Party garnered 16.6 percent, early results showed.

But the final results were still unknown due to vote-buying complaints.

The legislative elections are widely seen as a strong indicator for the presidential election.

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