House of Representatives elected Jaime Raúl Salamanca as new president

On July 20, at the installation of the new legislature for the period 2024-2025, the Congress of the republic elected its new board of directors.

The Senate of the Republic first carried out the election of its new president. With 98 votes in favor, Conservative Senator Efraín Cepeda He was chosen as the successor of Ivan Name in this position.

(You may be interested in: Efraín Cepeda is the new president of the Senate of the Republic).

In the case of the House of Representativesthe official elected to the presidency of this corporation was Jaime Raúl Salamanca, from the Green Alliance party, with 114 votes.

Salamanca prevailed over Katherine Miranda -who obtained 69 votes-, who had been guaranteed dignity in 2022, but which cost her her distancing from the government of Gustavo Petro.

(Besides: President Petro’s position on his minister implicated in the UNGRD scandal).

The same climate was evident in Miranda, who preferred not to speak to the media upon his arrival. However, Members of his team did warn the media that the ballots should be reviewedsince they could supposedly be marked to determine the voting direction of the representatives.

The same climate was noted in Mirandawho preferred not to speak to the media upon his arrival. However, members of his team did warn the media that the ballots should be checked, as they could supposedly be marked to determine the direction of the representatives’ votes.

Katherine Miranda

@MirandaBogotá

Not only those close to the government protested the opposition’s request, but also the Liberal representative Juan Carlos Lozada: “What the Minister of the Interior does in this room, the same thing that his Minister of the Interior did when there was a vote (…) it is the same thing that is done in a democratic room. A government has every right to be present in Congress. Or are we going to veto a government from coming?”.

(You may be interested in: President Petro was booed for arriving late to the military parade on July 20).

The debate continued for several minutes and was only interrupted by the request for a message of condolence from the U party for Diego Fernando Caicedo, one of its representatives, who lost his mother. The minute of silence was followed by the official nominations.

He Representative Juan Carlos Wills, conservativeinterrupted for a moment the main topic of the clash and recalled that there is a failure of the Council of State who pointed out that the first vice presidency should be for a minority. In this way, he sought to take away that dignity from the Citrepas he assured that it is a majority bench with 16 seats.

Voting begins for the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Cesar Melgarejo / Portfolio

Katherine Miranda immediately took the spotlight back by joining the request for the ministers to leave.Everyone knows it was a difficult choice.” Miranda said, who asked that Salamanca not continue to be favored with the presence of government officials.

(Besides: The best images of the military parade on July 20 in Colombia).

The distribution of nominations followed the same trend: the opposition presented Miranda as their candidate and those close to the government supported Jaime Raúl Salamanca. Neither of them deviated from that script. The secondary plot was the definition of the two vice-presidencies, where there was also no single candidate..

While the nominations were being announced, Miranda was restless, moving around in circles, something that contrasted with her opponent, who remained seated in his seat throughout the session. Those who did speak with the congressmen were the Ministersabove all Juan Fernando Christ (Inside).

To the end, Catherine Juvinao (Green Alliance) He took the floor to question the plenary for allegedly breaking the agreement to elect Miranda, as supposedly set in the first year. In this same sense, he defended that it was not the Green Alliance that should nominate, but the Centro Esperanza coalition.We were not given any guarantees and all the stories were told.“, he commented.

Profile of the new president of the House

Jaime Raul Salamanca Torres He was born in Sotaquirá, Boyacá, on December 15, 1979. He is Certified Public Accountant from the Pedagogical Technological University of Colombia (UPTC)Specialized in Government and Territorial Management from Santo Tomas University, and in Regional Development Management from the University of the Andes.

(We recommend: The opposition’s harsh response to Petro’s speech at the opening of Congress).

He began his political career as a student leader at the UPTC, a university where he was elected as representative to the Academic Council. Later, I arrive at the Assembly of Boyacáin the period 2012-2015, was the only Deputy in opposition. I lead the defense of the environment together with the community and in 2014 I prevented the liquidation of 42 hospitals.

Jaime Raul Salamanca

@JaimeRaulSt

(Besides: Farmers marched in support of the Petro government to back agrarian reform).

In the period 2016-2019 he was a deputy. Leader of the Government coalition and rapporteur of important ordinances such as the Finca Fund and the Higher Education Fund. He was a pre-candidate for the Governorship of Boyacá, for the Green Alliance, and served as Departmental Secretary of Education from January 2, 2020 to March 9, 2021.

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