In Colombia's historic plebiscite [8] Oct. 2, voters narrowly rejected the peace pact with the FARC rebels—a major surprise, as all polls had predicted a landslide victory for the "Yes" option. With 99.08% of the votes counted, the "No" option has received 50.24% of the votes against 49.75% for "Yes." The referendum obtained the necessary votes for it to be valid, despite heavy rainfall across much of the country. The result is a setback for President Juan Manuel Santos, and a victory for ex-president Alvaro Uribe [9], who led the campaign for a "No" vote. Addressing the nation, President Santos accepted the result but said he would continue working to achieve peace. He stressed that the ceasefire [9] remained in place, and said his negotiators have been ordered to travel to Cuba to consult FARC leaders on the next move. (Colombia Reports [10], Colombia Reports [11], BBC News [12], Oct. 2)
The FARC's renegade [13] 1st Front reportedly tried to disrupt the vote in its area of operations, launching what the Defense Ministry called an "explosive artifact" at a polling station in Barranquillita, Guaviare region. The web page of the National Civil State Registry [14], the body overseeing the elections, was also hacked by unknown cyber-attackers, although authorities said it did not affect the vote. (Colombia Reports [15], Oct. 2; El Espectador [16], Sept. 28)
The results show that areas most affected by the conflict overwhelmingly voted "Yes." In the heavily affected department of Chocó, 79% percent voted "Yes." The Caribbean departments, which include the violence-plagued Urabá region, also voted "Yes." (TeleSur [17], Oct. 2)
An immediate return to war seems unlikely. FARC negotiator Carlos Antonio Lozada said in the prelude to the vote that a "No" victory would "not mean it has to derail the process [or] lead us to make a decision to return to this painful war." (El Tiempo [18], Oct. 2)
The vote does place in question the first FARC surrender of weapons, scheduled to take place at Llanos del Yarí [8], on Colombia's eastern plains. The planned turn-over of the FARC Caribe Bloc's cache of improvised explosives was to be overseen this month by the United Nations. (El Espectador [19], Sept. 29)
