Colombia’s former Defense Minister, Juan Manuel Santos, is expected to take over the leadership of coalition party De La U on Monday, after the resignation of Luis Carlos Restrepo.
The former leader of teh Uribista party stepped down during a meeting of the Executive Committee of the political party.
Restrepo assumed leadership of the party after he earlier had resigned as the government’s Peace Commissioner, but received fierce criticism from within the party about how he lead the party.
Santos, who resigned as Defense Minister earlier this year has been mentioned by several of the party’s Congressmen as the perfect leader to prepare the party for the congressional and presidential in the first half of next year.
According to Restrepo, he leaves Santos a strengthened and unified party and promised that, despite his departure as leader of President Alvaro Uribe’s staunchest supporter in Congress, to continue serving the President and his work.
Restrepo praised Santos for his qualities.
Leader of the Coalition Party de La U, Luis Carlos Restrepo, has resigned and maintains that he does not intend to get into Congress in the Colombian Presidential elections in March 2010.
The former leader of the party, which is currently the largest in the presidential campaign running, informed news station W Radio.
Partido de la U is a supporter of the 2010 re-election of Uribe. Santos resigned as Defense Minister to be allowed to run for the presidency, but repeatedly said he would only do so if the President was not willing or able to run for a third term.
