BBC News Online: World: Americas

Election losses for Colombia's ruling party

Independent politicians in Colombia have made gains in local and regional elections.

Independent candidates won mayoral races in four of Colombia's five largest cities, including the capital Bogota.

The elections passed relatively quietly, despite a wave of political kidnappings, killings and intimidation by left-wing rebels and right-wing paramilitaries during the campaign.

Twenty-one candidates for mayoral or city council positions were killed, about sixty were kidnapped, and around one-hundred candidates withdrew before the elections.

The BBC correspondent in Bogota says that up to half of the independent candidates who won posts for mayor are thought to be supporters of one or other of the warring factions. Our correspondent says the rebels and paramilitaries camouflaged their supporters as independent candidates to consolidate their control over territory.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service