MANY Colombians are repulsed by the notion that top FARC rebel commanders could end up taking seats in Congress, become mayors or win governorships. But that is precisely what the year-old talks to end a half-century of conflict are all about: getting the rebels to give up arms for a chance to govern. Both sides announced a draft agreement November 6th that lays out a framework for how the FARC, which have been fighting the Colombian state since 1964, can turn into to a political party. Though the accord would take effect only once a broader agreement is reached, it marks a turning point for the process. In a joint statement issued in Havana, where the negotiations are taking place, the two sides said that a final peace accord would "imply the prohibition on using violence as a method of political action". Though the FARC have played politics before—through the Patriotic Union party in the 1990s which eventually saw the murder of 3,000 of its members—they did so while continuing to wage war. "Never again politics and weapons together," Humberto de la Calle, the government's chief negotiator, said.

The agreement would lower the threshold for political movements to be recognised as legal parties. It would also establish mechanisms to ensure the security of members of any party that emerges from a final peace deal.

Most important, it calls for the creation of temporary special congressional districts for areas hardest hit by the conflict. Not coincidentally, those areas are where the FARC have the most influence over the civilian population. The special seats in Congress are a way for the government to ensure the FARC a shot at winning elections.

But that strategy may backfire, according to a poll taken by AmericasBarometer, a project of Vanderbilt University, measuring the perceptions of the peace process. It was conducted both on a national level and in a sample of 111 most-affected municipalities. Predictably, support for the peace process is greater in conflict zones than in the country as a whole. But 65% of respondents in the former (and 71% iun the latter) still disapprove of a FARC political party. Only around one in 15 respondents living in conflict areas would consider voting for a demobbed guerrilla in mayoral elections scheduled for 2015. If one were elected, just over one-third of those polled would accept the result. The "electoral viability" of the FARC as political party clearly remains to be seen, says Jorge Restrepo, director of Conflict Analysis Resource Centre, a Bogota think-tank.

The announced agreement breathes new life into a process that was perceived to be in crisis. It was also just the sort of boost President Juan Manuel Santos needed to launch his bid for a second term in a presidential election next May. Fewer than a third of Colombians approve of his presidency. His mentor-turned-nemesis, former president Alvaro Uribe, whose ultra-conservative supporters denounce any deals with the rebel, has cast barps on the president for being too soft.

The progress in peace talks may propel Mr Santos officially to announce his candidacy. Attacks from Mr Uribe and his lot will then intensify as the electoral campaign heats up and as more progress is made in the talks. Mr Santos had even toyed with the idea of suspending the talks during the election campaign. But after the new agreement was announced he stated: “When we are advancing, when results are being seen, it's not the time to stop. On the contrary [it is time] to accelerate."