This long-troubled nation appeared to poised to leap into the void Sunday, narrowly rejecting a peace deal with the country's largest guerrilla group that aimed to end more than a half-century civil conflict.
If confirmed, the vote would be a brutal blow to President Juan Manuel Santos who has staked his presidency on the deal. Just last week, he was basking in the glow of world leaders as he signed off on the deal amid reports that the process on the short list for the Nobel Prize.
With 99.79 percent of the voting stations counted, election authorities said the "no" vote was winning with 50.2 percent, versus 49.8 percent for the "yes" vote.
As the last few areas were reporting, however, the difference had narrowed to 59,342 votes. The president was holding an emergency session with negotiators of the peace deal and is expected to address the nation at 8 p.m. EST.
The government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, spent almost four years in Havana, Cuba hammering out the deal. They ended negotiations on Aug. 24 and Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño had signed off on the pact on Sept. 26 in a star-studded event that drew a dozen regional leaders.
Polls leading up to Sunday's vote had predicted "yes" would win with a comfortable margin. But rural areas, particularly those hardest hit by the FARC, voted overwhelmingly for "no."
Colombians in the United States, many of whom fled here during the violence, also voted against the deal. With 65 percent of the vote counted in the United States, 61 percent voted against the deal versus 39 percent who approved it.
READ MORE: Victims of the conflict face tough choices in peace vote
After casting his vote earlier in the day, President Juan Manuel Santos said he believed the election “would change the history of the country for the better.”
“We’re ending a 52-year-old war and opening up the path for peace,” he said.
If the peace deal had been approved, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which were founded in 1964, planned to lay down their weapons and become political players in the long-troubled Andean nation.
On Saturday, the FARC announced they would provide a detailed list of their resources and goods — which they called their “war economy” — to be used to make reparations to the victims of the conflict. Up until now, the group had insisted that it was broke.
READ MORE: The winding, secret negotiations that led to peace talks
On Sunday, President Alvaro Uribe, who has been campaigning against the deal, said the government had its finger on the scale by pouring resources into the “yes” campaign while trying to drown out dissenting voices. He also said it was dangerous to submit a 297-page peace pact, which was negotiated over the course of almost four years in Havana, Cuba, to a simple up or down vote.
Among Uribe’s key gripes are that the FARC leadership may avoid prison time and they will be allowed to run for public office.
“Peace is a fantasy we all want,” Uribe said, shortly after voting, “but the Havana peace deal is disappointing.”
Carolina Travesedo, a 27-year-old religion teacher, said she had some doubts about the content of the peace deal but had voted in favor of it.
“It’s not perfect,” she said. “But this is a day where we have to have hope and give peace a little help.”
Luis Ernesto Gonzalez, a 65-year-old homeopath from the city of Florencia in southern Colombia, said he feared the peace deal will put the nation at risk by giving the FARC a free pass.
“We’re giving them a passport so they can come down from the hills into the cities and keep killing and committing crimes,” he said. “This government is unjust in giving benefits to these violent people.”
Provisions of the deal
The peace deal was hard-fought and sweeping. Among its key provisions: Most guerrillas would receive amnesty, and those accused of serious crimes would have access to “alternative” penalties that don’t include jail time as long they confess their crimes.
The deal also required the FARC, which has ties to Colombia’s cocaine trade, to become part of the solution and help eliminate illicit crops.
The deal contemplated reparations for victims, a truth commission and a special group to discover the fate of the disappeared. But at its core, the deal paved the way for the FARC to transform itself into a political party.
This story will be updated to reflect new information.