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managed to get away with 22%. In these elections, voter turnout was down to 45% of the eligible populace which exceeded 26 million voters. Accounting for these numbers, less than 28% of eligible voters cast their ballots for Uribe. That translates to roughly one-quarter of the voting public in support of President Uribe. In this light, neither Uribe's entry to office, nor his re-election thereof, can be considered a mandate from the public.

Today, reports show that up to 80% of Colombians are in favor of Uribe. But who are these Colombians being polled? Since more than 50% of the population lives in poverty, chances are their voices aren't being taken into account. The fact of the matter is, those 80% of Colombians are sampled from the middle and upper-classes, with access to telephones and Internet. No doubt, as far as they are concerned, President Uribe is doing a wonderful job of making daily life safer and access to travel easier than ever.

Colombia has one of the most radically disproportionate concentrations of wealth in Latin America. While the majority of Colombians are classified as impoverished, it is doubtful that safe travel is important to them. It takes money to travel, and when a family is struggling to keep food on the table, chances are travel plans don't reach the top of their priority list. Keeping this in mind, it is important to consider the inconsistencies in approval ratings and election mandates.

For now, President Uribe is still ruling the Colombian government with no forecast for a sunset. It is possible that we will see him run again in the Presidential Elections of 2010. From the trend witnessed so far, we may likely see a rise in voter absenteeism.

While the Colombian government does espouse some democratic characteristics, like any democratic institution of contemporary times, its strength is only as strong as the rule of law which upholds it. As such, repeatedly changing the Constitution in favor of additional terms parallels authoritarian rule more than democratic governance.

Learn more about this author, David A.G. Fischer.
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