Step by Step Guide to Becoming a Failed Presidential Candidate
A Peace Treaty and a Nobel Peace Prize later, Colombia struggles to adjust to FARC’s political participation. The former Colombian guerrilla lost no time regrouping under the newly acquired set of political rights and in January presented Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londoño, the former FARC Commander-in-Chief, as their candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. The short-lived presidential campaign ended last Wednesday, after Timochenko fell gravely ill and had to undergo open heart surgery.
Step 1: Make sure that your approval rate is at an all time low
The campaign was far from being a successful one. National polls from last week showed that his approval rate had hit a low of 0.3%, raising speculation over the motives behind the suspension of his campaign. The campaign went off to a rocky start, with only 200 spectators during its launch and vocal disapproval from the public in every city that Timochenko toured. During the first stop of Timochenko’s campaign, an angry mob ambushed and then destroyed his government-issued armoured vehicle. The remaining campaign stops proved to be no different: greeted with increasingly more outrage and hatred, leading to a complete suspension of the tour.
Step 2: Be associated with a deadly guerrilla group
The flawed strategy used by the FARC party did not take into account Timochenko’s unpopularity or the negative connotation of keeping the FARC acronym in their party name, although they did change it to the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force. FARC’s overall popularity in Colombia is no higher than 5.7%, and it would appear that FARC did not take that into consideration while forming their Presidential campaign. Lest we forget that the newly-achieved political rights of these ex-combatants does not obliterate the fact that 11% of FARC is still operating rogue in over 41 municipalities all over the country, which compared to only 7% in 2017, jeopardises the party’s image and trustworthiness.
Step 3: Timing is everything, so make sure you put forth your candidature at the worse time
The party also disregarded timing. With only a year after the signing of the peace treaty, Colombians are still resentful and the lack of proper reparation to victims makes a successful campaign almost impossible to achieve because a lot of people do not feel represented by him. The FARC failed to elect a candidate who could be forgiven and supported because they used their Commander-in-Chief. Timochenko’s personal brand is still very much associated with the atrocities committed under his command, and to have a proper chance at a presidential race, they should have chosen a more neutral face for a presidential candidate.
Timochenko’s failure as a presidential candidate proves that Colombia is still not ready to have FARC in office because half a century of wounds cannot be healed in a year. The timing of the campaign was a definite miss as well as the overall strategy given the lack of victim reparation.
The public’s response to the Presidential campaign was very violent, filled with hatred, and overall sent a very powerful message to the FARC and to the Santos administration about Colombia’s point of view: the FARC’s new political power was not to be accepted by the Colombian people. FARC’s presidential campaign was a mockery of Colombia’s suffering, attempting to glorify Timochenko’s character and normalise the organisation’s previous crimes.
There is still much healing to be done before peace can be truly achieved in Colombia. Last Sunday 11th March, legislative elections took place, providing an overview of the political environment after the resignation of Timochenko. The FARC party obtained only 0.34% of the votes for Senate, and 0.22% for the House of Representatives, a very low number that highlights the public’s rejection of FARC.
Regardless of this result, FARC is guaranteed ten seats in congress for two consecutive legislations in accordance with the Peace Treaty. This is a very controversial issue of the treaty, because it is clear that Colombians do not feel represented by FARC in any way. It is also clear that Timochenko suspended his campaign in part because of his health and in part because of his low approval rate. If the campaign had continued, we would have been able to see exactly how many Colombians would have wanted Timochenko as a president, as was the case for the legislative elections.
Comments