In 2010, Santos won the presidential election as the protégé of his predecessor Álvaro Uribe Vélez. However, some months after Santos' possession, Uribe became his strongest opponent, who also founded, three years later, the opposition party Democratic Center. This rivalry determined both Santos' unpopularity and his near-missed defeat during the presidential election in 2014 before Uribe's protégé Oscar Iván Zuluaga.