1994 Colombian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 29 May 1994, with a second round on 19 June.^[1] The result was a victory for Ernesto Samper of the Colombian Liberal Party, who received 50.57% of the vote in the run-off.

1994 Colombian presidential election

← 1990 29 May 1994 (first round) 19 June 1994 (second round) 1998 →
Turnout	33.95% (first round) 43.32% (second round)
Nominee Ernesto Samper Andrés Pastrana Arango Party Liberal Conservative Home state Bogotá Bogotá Running mate Humberto De la Calle Luis Fernando Ramírez Popular vote 3,733,366 3,576,781 Percentage 50.57% 48.45%
First round results by department Second round results by department
President before election César Gaviria Liberal Elected President Ernesto Samper Liberal

Samper's victory was tainted by the Proceso 8000 scandal, involving accusations that the Liberal Party had sought funding from the Cali Cartel during his campaign and afterward. This resulted in an investigation, which found several of Samper's close associates within the party guilty, although Samper himself was absolved of any wrongdoing.^[2] However, the scandal badly damaged his and his party's reputation during his presidency and resulted in a coalition of opposition politicians forming to oppose him. This resulted in the defeat of the Liberal Party in the following 1998 presidential election. As of the 2022 presidential election, Samper was Colombia's last Liberal Party president.

Results

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Ernesto Samper	Colombian Liberal Party	2,623,210	45.30	3,733,336	50.57
	Andrés Pastrana Arango	Colombian Conservative Party	2,604,771	44.98	3,576,781	48.45
	Antonio Navarro Wolff	Colombian Compromise (AD/M-19–ASI)	219,241	3.79
	Regina Betancur de Liska	Metapolitical Unitary Movement	64,131	1.11
	Miguel Alfredo Maza Marquez	Civic People's Convergence	55,190	0.95
	Alberto Mendoza Morales	National Convergence–Patriotic Union–PCC	34,437	0.59
	Enrique Parejo Gonzalez	Democratic Alternative	29,246	0.50
	Guillermo Alemán	Ecological Orientation Movement	22,923	0.40
	Gloria Gaitán	Jorge Eliecer Gaitán Movement	17,397	0.30
	José Antonio Cortes Huertas	Civic and Christian Commitment for the Community	11,704	0.20
	Miguel Zamora Avila	Let's Protest	9,059	0.16
	José Galat	Moral Front	9,055	0.16
	Doris de Castro	Independent Christian Movement	6,020	0.10
	Luis Rodríguez Orjuela	Progressive National Movement	5,711	0.10
	Oscar Rojas Masso	We are Free	4,368	0.08
	José Guillermo Barnosa Millan	Organisation for National Peace	3,797	0.07
	Mario Diazgranados Llinas	Christian CGT	3,319	0.06
	Efraín Toress Plazas	Believe – No to the War	2,637	0.05
Blank votes			65,116	1.12	72,536	0.98
Total			5,791,332	100.00	7,382,653	100.00
Valid votes			5,791,332	99.48	7,382,653	99.39
Invalid votes			29,999	0.52	45,089	0.61
Total votes			5,821,331	100.00	7,427,742	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			17,146,597	33.95	17,146,597	43.32
Source: Nohlen, CMPR[3]

Proceso 8000

This section is an excerpt from Proceso 8000.[edit]

The Process 8000 (lit. '8000 Process') is the unofficial name given to the corruption scandal surrounding accusations that Colombian Liberal Party candidate Ernesto Samper's 1994 campaign for President of Colombia was partially funded by drug money. The name came from the case number issued by the Office of the Attorney General for their investigation into the allegations. The investigation formally ended in the mid-1990s. The investigation found several of Samper's close associates to be guilty, although Samper himself was absolved of any wrongdoing.^[4][5]