Colombians narrowly reject peace deal with FARC rebels

Colombians narrowly rejected apeace deal with Marxist insurgents on Sunday, plunging thenation into uncertainty and handing a major defeat to PresidentJuan Manuel Santos, whovowed to keep aceasefire in place and not give up his effortsto end the52-yearwar.

Santos accepted the No result, and said hewould meet with all political parties on Monday to find a wayforward for the peace process.

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"I won't give up. I'll continue to search for peace until the lastmoment of my mandate," Santos said in a televised addressrecognizing his defeat.

The vote will not affectColombia's stability, hesaid.

Before the referendum result, the 53-year-old presidentsaid he had No Plan B andwould return Colombia to war if the Novote won.

A few states where the Yesvote was winning by a wide margin were still counting ballots, but as the hours passed the chances of reversing the result were fading. Pre-election polls had pointed to the Yesvote winning by an almost 2-to-1margin.

'Peace will triumph': FARC leader

A victory would have allowed himto start implementing the deal painstakingly negotiated inCuba over the past four years to end the longest-runningconflict in the Americas.

But theNocamp won 50.23 per cent to 49.76 per cent, as voteswere counted from 99.59 per cent of voting stations.

FARC rebelleaderRodrigo Londonosaid on Sunday that the insurgent groupmaintained its desire for peace despite the No win.

"The FARC reiterates its disposition to use only words as aweapon to build toward the future," Londono, known by his nom deguerre, Timochenko, said to journalists in Havana. "To the Colombian people who dream ofpeace, count on us. Peace will triumph."

Opponents of the pact believed it was too soft on theFARCrebels by allowing them to re-enter society, form a politicalparty and escape traditional jail sentences.

They want arenegotiationof the deal.

"I voted No. I don't want to teach my children thateverything can be forgiven," said AlejandroJaramillo, 35,angered that the rebels would not serve jail time.

Sunday's vote had asked for a simple Yes or No onwhether Colombians supported the accord signed last Monday by
Santos and Timochenko.

Uribe says rebels should pay for crimes

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known asFARC,whose numbers were halved to about 7,000 in recent years becauseof a U.S.-backed military offensive, had agreed to turn inweapons and fight for power at the ballot box instead.

"We all want peace, no one wants violence," said influential former president Alvaro Uribe who led the No campaign. "We insist on corrections so there is respect for the constitution... We want to contribute to a national accord and be heard."

Under the accord, theFARC, which began as a peasant revoltin 1964, would have been able to compete in the 2018presidential and legislative elections and have 10 unelectedcongressional seats guaranteed through 2026.

It would also have given up its role in the lucrativeillegal drug trade and taken part in reforming rural Colombia.

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But controversially, many rebel leaders who orderedkillings, bombings and displacements would have had to appearbefore a special tribunal that could sentence them toalternative punishments like clearinglandmines.

For decades, theFARCbankrolled the longest-runningconflict in the Americas through the illegal drug trade,kidnappingand extortion, spreading a sense of terror that leftfew Colombians unaffected. The conflict took morethan 220,000lives and displaced millions of people.

The bloodshed, at its worst, saw theFARCpositioned closeto the capital and the state on the verge of collapse. Battles between the guerrillas,paramilitaries, drug gangs and the armyraged in the countryside and there wereatrocitiescommitted onall sides.

The highly polarized campaign exposed how steep a challenge the government would face implementing the 297-page accord and bringing about real reconciliation. Colombians overwhelmingly loathe the FARC, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group, and many considered provisions in the accord that would spare the rebels jail time an insult to victims of the long-running conflict.

Low voter turnout to referendum

Turnout to Sunday's referendum was low, less than the 40 per cent seen in recent congressional elections, a further sign to some analysts that Colombians' enthusiasm for the ambitious accord was lacking.

Turnout was especially affected along the Caribbean coast, where support for the government is highest, as a result of heavy rainfall from Hurricane Matthew, which made it impossible to set up a few polling stations in La Guajira peninsula.

In the past month, ever since the deal was announced in Cuba after gruelling negotiations, the government had spent heavily on television ads and staged concerts and peace rallies around the country to get out the vote. It even enrolled the help of U2's Bono and former Beatle Ringo Starr. And for the first time in an election, it made ballots available in Braille so visually impaired Colombians could vote.