Bogota, Colombia ? President Alvaro Uribe swept to a re-election victory Sunday as voters gave him a resounding vote of confidence for having reduced violence, re-ignited the economy, and for restored confidence in a nation that four years ago seemed on the verge of disintegration.

With 96 percent of votes counted, Uribe had 62 percent of the vote, a massive lead over the closest of his three main rivals, Democratic Pole’s Carlos Gaviria, with 22 percent. Gaviria conceded the race, effectively making Uribe the nation’s first president to be democratically re-elected for a second term.

Uribe’s followers in Congress had the constitution changed last year to allow him to become the first modern Colombian president to run for re-election.