(30 May 1998) Spanish/Nat
Colombia's independent presidential candidate - former foreign minister Noemi Sanin - is rising in the final polls before Sunday's election.
Sanin leads all contenders in the capital, Bogota, and is closing in on second place
nationally, according to the polls released on Friday.
But her surge may be too late to defeat Horacio Serpa and Harold Bedoya, the leading candidates from the country's two traditional parties.
Independent candidate Noemi Sanin is hoping to break two well-entrenched traditions in Colombia.
The first is to become the first female president and the second is to break the monopoly on power held by the Liberal and Conservative parties for more than a century.
Sanin was a minister under President Gaviria and President Samper.
She served as ambassador to Venezuela and Britain and was also Colombia's first female foreign minister.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Only an independent government which is above all the political wrangling special to Latin America, where we form an association of privileges, of goals where we all work for the common good, that's what's going to make the difference".
SUPER CAPTION: Noemi Sanin, independent presidential candidate
A common theme of all the presidential campaigns has been to show ability to deal with the guerrilla problem.
Sanin said she would be willing to compromise if necessary to find the path to peace.
Second place in the polls is held by Horacio Serpa, the hand-picked successor of scandal-ridden President Ernesto Samper and his former interior minister.
The Liberal Party candidate has pushed strongly for negotiations with rebel leaders to find a way out of Colombia's problems.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"If the president of the republic, who is the head of the armed forces, is going to talk to the guerrillas - which is what I propose doing - directly with their bosses, then I can't see any reason why they can't be direct representatives of the armed forces."
SUPER CAPTION: Horacio Serpa, Liberal Party presidential candidate
If Serpa wins, he will take over from the outgoing president Ernesto Samper.
But his association with Colombia's scandal-plagued government has not helped his campaign.
Serpa vigorously defended his boss against accusations of soliciting money from the Cali drug cartel.
Sanin is not the only independent candidate.
Harold Bedoya launched his candidacy last year after Samper sacked him as commander of the armed forces.
He had criticised the president for pulling military forces out of southern Colombia.
The pull-out was a bargaining tool, organised for the release of 70 soldiers kidnapped by leftist guerrillas.
Bedoya is now a fierce critic of Samper's appeasement policy with the rebels and advocates a hard line.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"I represent the other Colombia - which is 70 percent of Colombians who support and who are supporting and those who are going to give me their vote on the day of the elections. There is a fringe support of 30 percent which represents the old parties, the old system, which is exactly what the people don't want, what the people are going to reject on the 31st of May. I am going to be the president of the Colombians which the level of support I have, and the other parties, are confusing public opinion."
SUPER CAPTION: Harold Bedoya, presidential candidate
Bedoya is running a distant fourth in the polls, behind Sanin and Serpa.
Conservative Party candidate Andres Pastrana, a former Bogota mayor, remains in first place, according to the surveys.
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