Election system in Columbia – World Countries for Kids

Colombia is amongst the longest-standing Latin American democracies, but one with a history of serious human rights abuses and widespread violence. Public institutions have shown the capacity to check executive power, and the nation’s main left-wing guerrilla group signed a peace accord in 2016. However, Colombia faces huge challenges in consolidating peace and guaranteeing civil libertiesand political rights outside of major urban areas.

Presidential elections

The president is directly elected to serve for a four-year term. As part of a bunch of 2015 constitutional amendments, presidential re-election was abolished. No contender garnered an outright majority in round-1 of the 2022 election. Following a highly polarized runoff campaign, Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego, the left-wing Historic Pact (PH) contender, took 50.4 percent of the round-2 vote. He beat Rodolfo Hernández (the former mayor of Bucaramanga), who was supported by a number of leaders belonging to incumbent president Iván Duque’s party, the Democratic Center (CD). Voter turnout touched 58 percent, marking the maximum turnout for presidential elections in almost 25 years. The balloting was regarded as competitive and credible, and the results were acknowledged by stakeholders. Election observers noted sporadic reports of vote buying and some other violations in both rounds of polls.

Congress elections

Congress consists of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate, with every seat up for election every four years. 100 Senate members are elected by the nation at large using a proportional representation system; additional two members are selected by Indigenous communities, one seat is granted to the runner-up in the presidential election. Another five seats were reserved in 2018 and 2022 elections for the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group under the peace accord. The Chamber of Representatives featured 188 members,following the 2022 elections,: 162 were elected in multimember districts through proportional representation, two picked by Afro-Colombian communities, one each by expatriateand Indigenous voters, five seats reserved for the FARC, one seat reserved for the runner-up vice presidential candidate, and 16 seats reserved for representatives of victims of the nation’s internal conflict; the latter were introduced following an August 2021 law implementing a peace accord provision.

The March 2022 legislative elections were very peaceful, however observers reported some irregularities and officials from many parties accused the electoral authorities of fraud, vote purchasing, and permitting candidacies by people with links to organized crime figures. Independent observers considered the polls and outcomes credible. Petro’s PH earned a plurality, taking 20 seats, followed closely by the Conservative Party with 15 seats, and the Liberal Party with 14 seats. In the Chamber of Representatives, three parties got 21 or more seats, led by the Liberal Party with 32 seats. In its second balloting as a legitimate party, the FARC took no seats apart from the five guaranteed to it in each chamber.