EXTREMIST PARTIES WIN BIG

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's two largest and most traditional political
parties were routed in congressional elections here yesterday, with voters
choosing in their stead a bevy of right-wing and left-wing independents.

Supporters of hard-line independent presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe did
best in largely peaceful nationwide voting yesterday, followed, ironically,
by supporters of Antonio Navarro Wolf, an ex- guerrilla from the
demobilized M-19 rebel group swept into the Senate.

Congressional candidates from President Andres Pastrana's Conservative
Party were routed, along with those from the Liberal Party, Colombia's
largest and best-organized political organization. Liberals and
Conservative presidents alternated power in Colombia throughout most of the
20th century.

Yesterday's balloting, which was largely peaceful, took place 18 days after
Mr. Pastrana ended a 3-year-old peace process with the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), Latin America's most powerful rebel group.

The FARC has called on Colombians to refrain from balloting, but
predictions of widespread violence turned out to be alarmist.

Colombian voters had to elect 102 senators and 166 representatives, the
whole of the nation's Congress.

As of 10 p.m. last night, and with 90 percent of the votes counted,
Liberals had 32 seats in the Senate - down from 56 - while Mr. Pastrana's
Conservatives had 13 Senate seats, down from 17. The remainder was taken up
by independent candidates, some supporting Mr. Navarro, others supporting
Mr. Uribe, and still others backing personalities with no clear political
stance.

Figures for the Chamber of Representatives were still preliminary.

Officials said that 95 percent of the country was calm, with isolated
incidents of violence, including ballot-box burning, in remote rural areas.

In regions where right-wing paramilitaries were active, there was pressure
to elect candidates of their choosing.