Amelia Makstutis, Lily O’Sullivan and Jonathan Hernández Nassif contributed reporting.
Medellin, Colombia — Colombians went to the polls on Sunday to elect new representatives for Congress and the Senate, as well as presidential candidates from the three main political blocs. Both the left wing of the ruling party and the right wing of the opposition party are performing well, and there is a possibility of polarization in the next legislative session.
Despite warnings of possible political violence by illegal armed groups in Colombia, the elections were held “without major security incidents,” according to the United Nations delegation to Colombia. Overall voter turnout was about 48%, roughly the same as last legislative election year.
With more than 3,000 candidates competing for 102 seats in the Senate and 182 seats in the House of Representatives, leftist President Gustavo Petro’s Pacto Historico party and the opposition Democratic Party (Centro Democratica) founded by former right-wing President Álvaro Uribe made the strongest showing on Sunday.
By 10 p.m., nearly 100% of primary votes had been counted, according to the National Civil Registry, with Historic Pact winning 22.8% of the Senate vote and the Democratic Center winning 15.6%. The Partido Liberal Party, the Green Alliance (Alianza Verde), and the Conservative Party (Partido Conservador de Colombia) followed with 11.7%, 9.8%, and 9.6%, respectively.
The official tally from the House of Representatives is still unclear, but analysts expect the Congress to be divided.
As a result, Colombia’s Congress could become polarized, with no party winning an absolute majority of seats. During his presidency, Petro has faced congressional obstacles to passing progressive legislation, even calling for a convocation of Congress to bypass it.
Senator Ivan Cepeda, who wants to carry the torch for Petro reform, congratulated the party on its victory in the Senate race. proverb“The second half of the year begins today, and we will begin a new phase of change with a strong and committed caucus.”
Sergio Guzman, a political risk consultant, said: Reuters“The left has shown that it is here to stay, and the right is divided but not weak. We will have a divided Congress for the next legislature.”
Jeni Suarez, 41, who voted for the historic treaty in the Senate and Congress, said: Latin America Report In Medellín, he said the most important issue now is the “political war between the left and the right.”
presidential primary election
In addition to the House of Representatives and the Senate, Colombia held three primaries (called interparty consultations) to choose candidates from the three main political blocs: left, centrist, and right.
The two candidates currently leading in opinion polls – far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and left-wing senator Ivan Cepeda – were not among the finalists in the primary and in the three consultations “Consulting for Solutions: Health, Security and Education” (center). ‘Front for Life’ (left) and ‘Great Agreement for Colombia’ (right) will face off in the first presidential election on May 31.
Sunday night’s biggest winner was Paloma Valencia, a protege of former President Uribe’s Democratic Center party. Paloma Valencia has a political pedigree that includes a grandfather who was a former president and an aunt who was Colombia’s first female cabinet minister.
Valencia addressed his base at his victory party, calling President Petro a “time bomb whose seconds are ticking until it explodes.”
Valencia said this in an interview ahead of the primary. Latin America Report“I am Woori Vista. I will die as Woori Vista,” he said, adding that he plans to follow in his mentor’s footsteps.
Read more: “I am Uri Vista, and I will die as Uri Vista”: Interview with Colombian presidential candidate Paloma Valencia
Former Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez easily won the Solutions Advisory primary, while former Medellín Mayor Daniel Quintero gave way to longtime politician and former senator Roy Barreras in the Front for Life Advisory.
“I want to congratulate Roy on his victory. I will support him according to the law.” said Quintero on X. “I hope he will lead us to a process of reconciliation.”
election security
Ahead of the election, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that non-state armed groups were using violence to control Colombia’s civilian population and could undermine election security.
Last year, the United Nations documented 18 murders and 126 cases of attacks and threats against political leaders, including the high-profile assassination of right-wing former presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay, who was shot in the head at a rally near Bogotá’s Modelia last June and wounded in August.
On Sunday, Defense Secretary Pedro Sánchez said more than 240,000 security forces had been deployed to protect the election. The head of the National Civil Registry called the election “a peaceful day at the polls, except for a few isolated cases in the region.”
Voting is temporarily suspended in La Macarena, a rural municipality of Meta. drone attack claims by a guerrilla group near a polling station, according to the National Civil Registry. Even the agency blame “100 million cyberattacks” on websites.
Other election interference, including vote buying, has also been reported. colombian police said They arrested 88 people involved in the election and seized more than $990,000 (COP 3,761,000,000) in cash for the purpose of influencing the vote.
In the hours leading up to the election, Víctor Hugo Moreno Bandeira, the Democratic Party’s central congressional candidate in the southern state of Amazonas, was arrested with $5,200 (COP 20 million) in cash needed to buy votes. His party later suspended his candidacy.
And the U Party’s senatorial candidate, Fredy Camilo Gómez Castro, was arrested and accused of being the right-hand man of Colombia’s smuggling kingpin, Diego Marín, nicknamed “Papa Pitupo.”
On Colombia’s eastern border with Venezuela, Defense Minister Sánchez condemned large-scale illegal border crossings, saying some 2,400 people had crossed the Tachira River “probably heading to vote.”
Although his party was successful, Álvaro Uribe collapsed.
Álvaro Uribe, the History Channel’s “greatest Colombian of all time,” failed to win a Senate seat for the first time in his storied political career.
Forecasts show Uribe’s Democratic Center Party will win 17 seats in the Senate, and he was placed 25th on his party’s list of candidates, effectively eliminating him from the seat.
Uribe, who defeated leftist guerrillas and won a majority of Colombian voters during his presidency from 2002 to 2010, has come under fire in recent years for his links with drug traffickers and paramilitary death squads.
Last August, the controversial president was found guilty of procedural fraud and bribing witnesses and sentenced to 12 years of house arrest, but the conviction was overturned by Bogota’s High Court two months later.
Amelia Makstutis, Lily O’Sullivan and Jonathan Hernández Nassif contributed reporting. A version of this article also appeared in The Bogotá Post.
Featured Image: Colombians head to the polls for legislative elections on March 8.
Image source: National Registry of Civil Status via X
