Colombian presidential election, 2010

Colombian presidential election, 2010

← 2006 30 May and 20 June 2010 2014 →
Turnout	49.27% (first round) 4.17% 44.33% (run off) 4.94%
Nominee Juan Manuel Santos Antanas Mockus Party Party of the U Green Party Home state Bogotá Bogotá Running mate Angelino Garzón Sergio Fajardo Popular vote 9,028,943 3,587,975 Percentage 69.1% 27.5%
Winner by department, Second Round
President before election Álvaro Uribe Colombia First Elected President Juan Manuel Santos Party of the U

Álvaro Uribe
Colombia First

Juan Manuel Santos
Party of the U

The Colombian presidential election of 2010 took place under a two-round system, with an initial vote held on May 30 and a second poll held three weeks later on June 20. A referendum proposal that would have allowed incumbent President Álvaro Uribe the opportunity to run for a third term was rejected by the Constitutional Court of Colombia in a 7–2 ruling on February 26, 2010. Because no candidate received a majority (more than one-half) of the votes cast in the May 30 poll, the candidates with the two highest vote totals competed in a runoff election on June 20: Juan Manuel Santos of the liberal-conservative Social Party of National Unity which unites supporters of former President Uribe, and Antanas Mockus from the Green Party. Santos won the election with 69% of the votes.

In 2002, Álvaro Uribe of the Colombia First party was elected president with 53.1 per cent of the vote, breaking the two-party system that ruled the country since 1958, with the promise of ending the armed conflict that haunts the country since 1964 by strengthening the Armed Forces. In 2006, he managed to change the Constitution in order to run for a second consecutive term. After a practically mute campaign, Uribe won the election with 62.2 per cent of the vote, followed by Carlos Gaviria of the Alternative Democratic Pole with a distant 22 per cent.