Sergio Fajardo, 53, mathematician and journalist was Mayor of Medellin, Colombia’s second city, from 2003-2007. Very popular as his term ended, he decided in 2008 to embark on a national career. If President Uribe does not get the Constitution changed so he can run a third time, he could be the next president.

Sergio Fajardo, former mayor of Medellin, is actually campaigning in Colombia for the presidential election. His direct manner, his relations with the public and his keeping in touch via the Internet like Barack Obama have put him in first place in surveys for the May 2010 election. However his views, while critical of current policies and not attacking Alvaro Uribe head on (the current right wing president), are of an indefinite political colour. This non-party candidate states he wishes “to put an end to the division in Colombian life about security issues and fear [ Alvaro Uribe was elected for his “strong arm “policy against FARC]. “In my opinion, security is a means and not an end. I hope to reach agreement with FARC and end the conflict that has been one of the most violent conflicts in the world.” “I support the principle of negotiation, but we must never start negotiations until they have made the decision to lay down their guns”, he explained.

Wearing his hair long, always in jeans, this former mathematician, mayor of Medellín in 2003, has as his trump card the management of his city, the second biggest in the country. It was during this time that local initiatives in violent districts, the dismantling of large drug cartels and the disarming of paramilitaries lead to a marked decrease in the rate of murders, from 320 per 100,000 in the 1990’s to 33 per 100,000 currently [ it remains one of the highest in Latin America]. However, like all the other candidates going for election, Fajardo, 53, can only have a real chance if Uribe cannot - or does not want to- undertake a third term [ for that he must change the Constitution],a possibility under debate in Parliament. Should this reform be agreed, the current president, who never mentions this issue, would beat all his opponents in the election.

“I think Uribe will not go forward. He ought to follow the example of President Lula[ of Brazil], who has already said it would not be appropriate to go for election a third time”, Sergio Fajardo said this just before one deputy [ a member of President Lula’s Workers’ Party]was about to introduced a bill in the Brazilian parliament for a third presidential term.

The independent candidate has other aces up his sleeve. He has the opportunity to establish himself at a time when the main party opposing Uribe , the PDA (Democratic Alternative Pole, left of centre) is having difficulties due to internal conflicts and has not a united front against Uribe. In this vacuum left by the traditional opposition, Fajardo’s even handed electoral slogan- “Neither for nor against Uribe”- hits home. It allows him to build up, without sticking his neck out too much, his criticisms of Parliament, which is embroiled in a crisis caused by the unveiling of links between some parliamentarians and {extreme right wing] paramilitaries.

While it was Fajardo himself who supported and put his successor in Medellín[Alonso Salazar, his close associate], the town has to cope with a re-emergence of violence, even if it is less serious than back in the 1990’s. “Each time we remove the drug smuggling bosses, others immediately take their place, he acknowledges. But the same gangs are in place, there are no new gangs emerging”.

The former mayor said he had mobilised 9000 supporters to get the 370,000 necessary signatures to form a new party, Compromiso Ciudadano por Colombia [Civic Action for Colombia]. “My priority is the fight against vote catching and corruption. The country’s two main problems are violence and inequality. Inequality causes violence”, he explains. Fajardo admits he admires Obama’s approach, “who did not look like a favourite in the beginning”. “We used the slogan ‘ Medellín, hope instead of fear’ before he did”, he adds.