The Left Wins in the Colombian Parliamentary Elections

On Sunday, the Historical Pact, a coalition that brings together the bulk of the Colombian left, won 17 seats in the Senate and 25 seats in the House of Representatives. In these elections, the big loser was the Democratic Center, a right-wing party led by former President Alvaro Uribe that had been the main political force in the country until now.

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However, the Colombian right, although fragmented into six parties, will continue to be a majority in Congress, which will force the Historical Pact to seek alliances with the Green Alliance Coalition and the Hope Center, both of which have 14 seats in the Senate.

In the upper house, the rest of the positions were reached by the Conservative Party (15), the Liberal Party (15), the Democratic Center (14), Radical Change (11), the U Party (10) and the Coalition Mira-Colombia Free Fair (4).

In these elections, Colombians elected for the first time the representatives for the 16 Special Transitory Circumscriptions of Peace (CITREP), which are a mechanism designed so that the victims of the armed conflict can enter the House of Representatives.

Among the chosen leftist lawmakers are Maria Jose Pizarro, Alexander Lopez, Aida Avella, Roy Barreras, Ivan Cepeda, Isabel Zuleta, Esmeralda Hernandez, and Maria Fernanda Carrascal.

In the right-wing forces, the Democratic Center candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay, former Secretary of the Government of Bogota, was the most voted politician of all the candidates for the Senate. His party will be the predominant force with 19 senators.

In the Lower House, the Democratic Center lost 17 seats, going from 32 representatives to 15 in these elections. Another big loser on the right was "Radical Change", a party which barely got 11 seats in the Senate and 16 in the Lower House.

Regarding the presidential primary elections, the leftist senator Gustavo Petro prevailed this Sunday with over 80 percent of the votes, thus consecrating himself as the presidential candidate of the Historic Pact for the elections to be held in May, in which the Hope Center candidate Sergio Fajardo and the Liberal Party candidate Juan Galan will also take part.