This Sunday, Colombians will go to the polls, two years after the start of the pandemic, to elect the new members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as the 16 peace seats, which are for victims of the armed conflict, and they will also choose the presidential candidates from three coalitions.
The following are the keys to this election day.
(See: How to check your polling place for Sunday’s election).
COMPOSITION OF THE SENATE
The Colombian Senate is made up of 108 members whose seats will be distributed as follows:
– 100 senators by national constituency.
– 5 seats they are, regardless of the vote they get, for the party common, since the peace agreement signed in 2016 with the former FARC guerrilla establishes that this party is entitled to 5 seats in the Senate and 5 in the House for the periods 2018-2022 and 2022-2026. – Two seats are elected in the Special Indigenous Constituency.
– The last seat it is awarded to the candidate for the Presidency of the Republic who ranks second in the elections.
According to National Registry of Civil Status, organizer of the elections, for these elections there are registered 934 candidates in 25 lists for the Senate throughout the country and 22 candidates in nine lists for the Special Indigenous Constituency.
(See: Restrictions and other measures for the elections this Sunday).
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
As in the Senate, the House Representatives are elected every four years and on this occasion they will be 188.
View of the Congress of the Republic.
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– Of that total, 161 seats are ordinary, that is, they are chosen by the political parties in departmental constituencies.
– The former guerrilla of the Farc, now the Comunes party, is entitled to 5 seats as a guarantee of political participation, according to the peace agreement.
– 4 seats are special: two for Afro-descendant communities, one for the Special Indigenous Circumscription and one for Colombians residing abroad.
– A Raizal candidate by the insular department of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, which is pending regulation.
– Another seat it is for the vice-presidential running mate of the candidate who comes in second in the presidential election.
– The 16 seats of the Special Transitory Circumscriptions of Peace will also be elected for the first time.
For the House of Representatives they signed up 1,498 candidates in 328 lists, of which 263 are from the regional constituency, 7 are from the Special Indigenous Circumscription; 48, of Afro-descendants; and 10, of Colombians abroad.
(See: Abc to vote for elections to the Senate, House and coalitions on Sunday).
THE PEACE CHAIRS
For the first time, the members of the 16 seats of the Special Transitory Circumscriptions of Peace, foreseen in the agreement signed between the Government and the FARC, will be elected.
after many legislative discussions and in the courts, these seats were finally approved by Congress for the periods 2022-2026 and 2026-2030 through Legislative Act of August 25, 2021.
The 16 peace constituencies cover the 167 municipalities most affected by the internal armed conflict, rdistributed in 18 of the 32 Colombian departments.
The candidates for the 16 seats “they can only be registered by victims’ organizations, peasant organizations or social organizations, including those of women, and significant groups of citizens“, states the Law.
For these seats, 398 candidates registered and one will be elected for each of the constituencies through voting that will be done exclusively in the rural areas of the 167 municipalities, which are the hardest hit by the armed conflict.
PRESIDENTIAL CONSULTATIONS
On March 13 there will also be the queries of three coalitions of cI enter, left and right to choose their candidates for the presidential elections on May 29.
(See: Road to the Presidency: these are the proposals of the candidates).
For him historical pact, that brings together left-wing parties, the senator competes Gustav Petro, favorite in all the polls to win the Presidency, as well as the social leader France Marquez, the former governor of Nariño Camilo Romero, the leader of the Wayuú indigenous community Arelis Uriana Guariyu and the evangelical pastor Alfred Saade.
Hope Center Coalition has as candidates the former mayor of Medellin Serge Fajardo, former senator Juan Manuel Galan former Minister of Health Alexander Gaviria, the senator Jorge Enrique Robledo and the former governor of Boyacá Carlos Amaia.
View of the Casa de Nariño, the Presidential home in Colombia.
Archive THE TIME
Team for Colombia, a coalition of the right, will choose between the former mayors Federico Gutierrez, from Medellin; Enrique Penalosa (Bogota), and Alexander Charlie (Barranquilla), as well as the senators David Barguil and Aydeé Lizarazo.
ELECTORAL CENSUS
According to the National Registry, 38,819,901 citizens will be able to vote at 112,009 tables distributed in 12,512 polling stations throughout the country.
However, abstention in Colombia, traditionally, is around 50% and in the last two legislative elections it was 56% (2014) and 51% (2018).
(See: The road closures and detours that Bogotá will have due to the elections).
CEASE FIRE ELN
Just like four years ago, the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), with which there are no peace negotiations, announced a five-day ceasefire as “a gesture for Colombia” for “facilitate election day“.
The ELN committed to a ceasefire.
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The ceasefire runs from 00:00 hours on March 10 to 11:59 pm on the 15th of the same month, as announced by that guerrilla.
The ones from four years ago were the legislative and presidential elections quietest in the recent history of the country thanks to the peace agreement with the FARC and the dialogues with the ELN at that time.
(See: Entrepreneurs and health employees, to the political arena with these parties).
BORDER CLOSURE
Traditionally, the Colombian Government orders the closure of its borders before the elections to guarantee the normality of the day.
On this occasion they were closed from 6 pm on March 10 until 11:59 pm on Sunday the 13th.
The measure applies to border posts with comezuela, located in the departments of Norte de Santander, Arauca, La Guajira and Vichada; with Ecuador, located in Nariño and Putumayo, and in Leticia, capital of the Amazon, bordering with Brazil and Peru.
DRY LAW
The country also imposes Dry Law, that prohibits the sale and consumption of alcohol and that is in force from 6 pm on Saturday, March 12 until 6 am on Monday, March 14.
This measure, considered anachronistic, dates from the 1950s and it was introduced to prevent liquor consumption from exacerbating partisan violence between Liberals and Conservatives.
EFE
