Insights | Letters for the formation of the new Congress of the Republic are ready 2022 – 2026

Tomado de Blu Radio

04/01/2022

Letters for the formation of the new Congress of the Republic are ready 2022 – 2026

According to the electoral calendar established by the National Registry of Civil Status, December 20 was the maximum period for political parties to make changes to their lists of candidates for the Congress of the Republic, taking into account that last December 13 was the maximum term for their registration.

In this way, the movements and coalitions, for a week, made various announcements about the cards that will be played for the legislative elections of 2022. In contrast to what was presented on December 13, several of these movements and communities until the last minute of 20 December presented surprising changes.

The Democratic Center, being the party with the greatest representation and political force in Congress in the 2018-2022 period, was the party that presented the most changes. After a long discussion about who would make up the lists, especially that of the Senate, as Miguel Uribe Turbay was appointed head of the list. In addition, several senators with force in the party will no longer be in the electoral contest. One of them is Fernando Nicolás Araújo, who resigned his aspiration because he intends to resume his career in the private sector and announced that he will push for Enrique Cabrales to take his place in the Senate. At the same time, Nicolás Pérez declined his candidacy for the Senate, stating that he will accompany candidates for the Chamber with his support and remains very close to Horacio Gallón, and hinted at an electoral possibility for 2023.

On the side of Edward Rodríguez, despite the fact that he expressed his dissatisfaction with what happened with his presidential candidacy, where he claimed to be disrespected and no longer felt represented by the Democratic Center, the party did not accept his resignation. However, after some conversations, Rodríguez accepted to be a candidate for the Senate by the community and will be in box number 5 of the card.

On the women’s side, Senator Ruby Chagüi withdrew from her candidacy, stating that “she does not want to divide the votes in the department of Córdoba and become a stumbling block”, since one of her brothers will aspire to the corporation for the party of the U. Senator Amanda Rocío González, who did not receive the endorsement of the Democratic Center, because it was granted to her cousin Alirio Barrera, former governor of Casanare, decided to register as a candidate for the Radical Change party. However, there are still doubts about whether this could mean a possible double militancy, taking into account that he had to renounce Uribism a year before to be able to aspire for another community.

As for the Conservative party, it received registrations until last October 31 when it decided to form an open list, which will be led by the current senator Efraín Cepeda. Once this was defined, the community did not present important changes to either the Senate or the House of Representatives list.

Regarding the Centro Esperanza Verde Coalition, the list for the Senate, as previously known, would be headed by Humberto de la Calle Lombana, who will be accompanied by Antonio Sanguino, Angélica Lozano, Ariel Ávila, who represent the Alianza Verde, ASI, Colombia Renaciente parties. , Dignity, Green Oxygen and the movements In March and Citizen Commitment. And in the House of Representatives who heads the list is the current representative Katherine Miranda. It was also agreed that the list will be open, that is, with a preferential vote. For her part, Senator Angélica Lozano, from the Alianza Verde party, presented her resignation letter in recent days, on the grounds of “systematic non-compliance.” However, he subsequently accepted the party’s invitation to continue and seek re-election to his seat.

On the other hand, Andrés García Zuccardi, from the U Party, will not go to the Senate and will support the aspiration of José David Name. In liberalism, it was learned that Senator Guillermo García Realpe resigned his candidacy, arguing that he will not be a “bench comrade of‘ ñoños ’, nor‘ Merlanos ’, nor‘ Thumbs ’, nor professional vote buyers.”

In front of the Coalition of Mira and Colombia Justa Libres parties, it was one of the coalitions that were not so clear. However, both communities agreed to present open lists, interleaved and with broad regional participation.

For the New Liberalism, the presidential candidate Juan Manuel Galán, said that this list “represents Colombia, the Colombia that went out to claim peacefully … for many years we cried with sadness, today we have cried with hope because it opens in the horizon a new Colombia represented by the New Liberalism ”. Finally, the list to the Senate was headed by the journalist Mabel Lara and the former Ombudsman, Carlos Negret.

Finally, in the case of the Historical Pact, it was heard that the name of Sandra Villadiego would be removed from the list due to the accusations and investigations that are being carried out against her husband. However, until the last minute of December 20 that withdrawal was not effective, so despite not having been removed from the lists, the party publicly stated that they did not support his candidacy.

Against this background, it is important to remember that in 2018, the Democratic Center party was the most voted political force for the Senate of the Republic, followed by the traditional parties. Parties such as Alianza Verde managed to notably increase their participation and new political forces such as Decencia and Colombia Justa Libres managed to pass the threshold and break into the Congress that is a few months away.

The country is only three months away from reaching the polls again to determine the legislative course for the next four years, and these elections appear to be historic. In addition, the incursion of new movements and coalitions must be taken into account, since all will aim to mark their ideals and proposals, which most likely led to a turn in the conformation of the new congress for the period 2022 – 2026, in which many New faces will be part of it, but in which the fragmentation and multipartism in the country is possibly more evident.