Supporters of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Sunday night swept majority control of congress, according to projections based on election results from over 80 per cent of polling centres.
Candidates from the three main parties that back Mr Uribe, plus several smaller political organisations, were set to win around 70 per cent of seats in the 102-seat Senate, official results showed.
Government allies running for the 166-seat lower house were also looking at a similar result, according to data compiled by the electoral authorities at 11pm local time, seven hours after voting stations closed.
Mr Uribe, who is popular for his tough policies designed to crush a four-decade-old guerrilla insurgency financed by the drugs trade, will be the first president in a century to run for an immediate second term.
Opinion polls have suggested he will win re-election easily, a view that is likely to be reinforced by what appears to be better-than-expected results for the government in Sunday’s congressional elections.
The support of a majority of lawmakers and Mr Uribe’s likely re-election will allow the authorities to make further inroads into winding crushing rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc.
Legislative control will also allow a second Uribe administration to secure passage of long-delayed tax and pension reforms, as well as a recently-negotiated free trade agreement with the US.
The results of Sunday’s elections appeared to demarcate a new map of Colombia’s political landscape.
In a stunning political debut, the Partido de la U, a centrist party supportive of Mr Uribe and founded only a few months ago, looked set to become the largest single party in the Senate, with some 20 seats.
According to projections, Conservative party candidates, who also support the government, and those from the pro-Uribe Cambio Radical party, would become the second and fourth largest parties.
A major upset loomed for the opposition Liberal party, which looked likely to have gained 17 seats, less than half the 30-35 seats party chiefs had predicted.
The Polo Democrático Alternativo, a leftwing party, also appeared to face disappointment, clinching only about 10 per cent of votes cast.
Despite fears that Farc would disrupt the elections, police reported only a handful of incidents in rural areas carried out by suspected rebels.
Rather than disruption from guerrillas, it was abstention that appeared to have cast a blemish over the results. Over 26.5m Colombians were eligible to vote yet the latest tally suggested that turnout was only about 40 per cent.
