Colombians chose the candidates for the presidential election of May and renewed a very fragmented congress.
by
The Left Coalition named the “historic pact” (Pacto Historico) made a breakthrough, Sunday, March 13, in a Colombia hitherto very marked right. Voters were called to vote to renew the Bicameral Congress and designate the candidates of coalitions in the running for the presidential election of May. On the left, Gustavo Petro won hands up the investiture of his camp and go a favorite. “The historical pact has obtained the best results of progressing in the history of the Republic of Colombia,” said Sunday night, in front of his enthusiastic followers.
Despite an unprecedented advance, the historic pact is far from obtaining a majority in Congress. “But, if he plays the opening to reassure the center, Gustavo Petro has every chance of being elected”, prognostic the lawyer and editorialist Ramiro Bejarano, who sees in the results of Sunday “a slap for the government in place Ivan Duque “. The latter, limited to one term, can not be represented. As early as Monday, Federico Gutierrez, who won the investiture for the right coalition, called for the rally to counter Mr. Petro, “in the name of the defense of freedoms, democracy and the market”.
In this country where violence and assassinations remain daily, the election day took place in a “total normal”, according to the authorities. Two soldiers were killed in the south of the country.
Modest advanced
The final composition of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate has only been known until Monday morning. The advance of the left to the Congress remains modest, but it moved the political center of political gravity of the two rooms. The historic pact gets 16 out of 102 seats in the Senate (compared with 3 in 2018) and 25 out of 165 in the Chamber of Deputies. Traditional, Liberal and Conservative parties maintain their regional grip and parliamentary bases. The Democratic Center (CD) of the former President Alvaro Uribe, long voter of the right larger, is in sharp decline, from 32 to 16 deputies and from 19 to 14 senators, according to the national register of civil status. The Party of the Common, from the former guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), it, obtained less than 1% of the votes.
“Six years after the signing of the peace agreement, these elections confirm that the FARC missed their transition to political life,” says Laura Gil analyst. The ancient guerrillas, however, retain the 10 seats at the congress allocated to them by the November 2016 peace agreement for two legislatures.
You have 61.02% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.