Scandals muddy Colombia election two weeks before voting

[Judi Lynn]

Scandals muddy Colombia election two weeks before voting

By Julia Symmes Cobb and Luis Jaime Acosta
BOGOTA Fri May 9, 2014 9:06pm BST


(Reuters) - Spying and bribery allegations have marred the run-up to Colombia's presidential election with top advisors for both candidates resigning in a bitter campaign that could sour voter support just over two weeks from the ballot.

Both President Juan Manuel Santos and his closest rival Oscar Ivan Zuluaga have been tarnished by mud-slinging between their camps, shifting attention in an election that was on track to be a referendum on the peace process with Marxist-led rebels.

Zuluaga, who represents the new Democratic Center party, is a staunch opponent of the negotiations in Havana, Cuba that Santos opened 18 months ago with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Frontrunner Santos' campaign chief, Venezuelan political strategist Juan Jose Rendon, resigned this week after claims made in testimony by an indicted drug trafficker that Rendon received $12 million to smooth the way for the trafficker and several associates to avoid extradition to the United States.

More:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/09/uk-colombia-election-idUKKBN0DP1H120140509?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401

[Louisiana1976]

1. It'll be interesting to see who wins after all that.