A Photo for Friday

Since Colombia has been in the news this week, here is a photo I took of the opening ceremonies of the first round of the 2014 presidential elections, where I was acting as an electoral observer.  This process eventually led to Juan Manuel Santos’ second term in office.  This issue of the peace plan was central to that election.  Santos came in second in the first round to Óscar Zuluaga, who was a major “No” proponent and Uribe ally.  Santos went on to win in the second round.  The Santos coalition and anti-Santos coalition in 2014 is essentially the same as the “Yes” and “No” coalitions.

The location is the Plaza de Bolívar and that is the Colombian congress building in the background.

Opening Ceremonies

“Opening Ceremonies”
May 25, 2014
Bogotá, Colombia

FILED UNDER: Latin America, Photography, World Politics, , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Mister Bluster says:

    …where I was acting as an electoral observer.

    I am seriously impressed.
    You may have mentioned this before but I missed it.
    All I ever did was serve as an Election Judge in San Francisco in Nov. 1974 when Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (Dem) defeated Houston Irving Flournoy (Rep) for Governor of The Golden State.

  2. @Mister Bluster: I worked with a Colombian NGO as an international observer in 2010 for the Congressional elections and 2014 for the first round of the presidential cycle (both times in Bogota). It was quite fascinating.