COLOMBIA ELECTS PASTRANA AS ITS NEW PRESIDENT

BOGOTA, Colombia - In an electoral backlash against corruption, voters
swept a conservative opposition figure to victory in presidential elections
yesterday over the hand-picked candidate of scandal-plagued President
Ernesto Samper.

Andres Pastrana, the telegenic son of a former Conservative president,
narrowly defeated Liberal Party candidate Horacio Serpa, who ardently
defended Samper in a drug-money scandal.

With 96 percent of votes counted, Pastrana tallied 50.64 percent of the
ballots to Serpa's 46.3 percent.

"We are the victors. The truth is we are very happy," Pastrana said.

Pastrana, 43, pledged to seek an immediate meeting with leaders of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to discuss how to end their
34-year Marxist insurgency, the longest and oldest rebel war in Latin America.

Rebel efforts to boycott the elections failed, halting balloting in only 36
of the nation's 1,073 townships. FARC guerrillas torched at least 13 buses
in Tolima state, killed two people and wounded two others aboard a police
helicopter in Huila state, and burned some 7,000 ballots in various towns.

Pastrana's margin of victory - more than 500,000 votes over Serpa among the
record 11.2 million ballots cast - gave him a clear mandate. Analysts said
Pastrana's triumph would return legitimacy to Colombia's leadership and
improve its deteriorated image abroad once he takes office Aug. 7.

Pastrana's victory defied the forecasts of pollsters, who said he and Serpa
were deadlocked after first-round elections May 31.

But key defections from the ruling Liberal Party, which has governed for 12
consecutive years, helped usher Pastrana to triumph and avenge his narrow
loss to Samper in 1994. After that defeat, Pastrana sparked Colombia's
biggest political scandal in modern history when he denounced that drug
money had gone into his opponent's campaign.

Prosecutors determined that $6.1 million in Cali Cartel cash flowed into
Samper's campaign. During the next three years, they jailed more than 30
legislators and political figures.

Samper himself was absolved by Congress in June 1996 in a vote that was
called a whitewash by Washington. His U.S. visa was later yanked.

Serpa, a fiery orator who never tired of proclaiming Samper's innocence,
was a key figure in the troubled 1994 race. He organized a Samper
fund-raiser attended by a major Cali Cartel figure, Victor Patino Fomeque,
and hand-carried millions of dollars to campaign offices on San Andres
Island. Serpa later told prosecutors he didn't know who the money belonged
to or what it was intended for.

In a dramatic moment, Pastrana and Serpa were both asked at a June 10
debate if they would extradite Samper to stand trial in the United States
if asked to do so. Pastrana said no. Serpa, surprisingly, said he would.

Pastrana accused the ruling Liberals of widespread corruption and said his
opponent would prolong the scandals that flourished under Samper.

Serpa, a former interior minister under Samper, portrayed Pastrana as an
elitist and said Colombians were choosing between a leader who would rule
for the rich and one who would govern for the poor.

Early yesterday after dropping off his ballot at Bogota's Bolivar Plaza,
Samper said he has nothing to be ashamed of.

"I have fulfilled my duty to my country and my people honestly," he said.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski