Elections in Colombia

Elections in Colombia are regulated and controlled by the National Electoral Council (CNE) which also provides information on elections and election results.

At the national level, the President of Colombia is elected as the head of state and the bicameral Congress of Colombia as the legislature every four years. The Congress of Colombia is composed of 162 members of the Chamber of Representatives and 102 members of the Senate. Both are elected by proportional representation.

Colombia historically had a two-party system, dominated by the Colombian Liberal Party and Colombian Conservative Party, in which it could be difficult for third parties to find success. Since the implementation of the 1991 constitution, there has been a proliferation of third parties, which have won most presidential elections in the 21st century.

Colombia's electoral system has a pervasive corruption issue, with electoral fraud, bribery, and other scandals occurring at both the municipal and national levels.

Electoral system

Presidential

Colombian presidents are elected for four-year terms using a two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff is held between the top two candidates.^[1] The vice president is elected on the same ticket as the president. Presidents are limited to a single four-year term, and Article 191 of the constitution requires candidates to be Colombian by birth and at least thirty years old. In line with the constitution, Colombian citizens by birth or by naturalization, aged eighteen or older have the right to vote. Several scenarios can cause the loss of the right to vote, as outlined in the constitution. Citizens in detention centers can vote from the establishments determined by the National Civil Registry. The civil registry inscription is not automatic, and citizens must go to the regional office of the registry to register.^[2] Legislative Act No. 2 of 2015 established that the runner-up in the presidential elections is given a seat in the Senate and their vice president candidate becomes a member of the Chamber of Representatives.^[3]

In order to be accepted as a candidate, applicants must either have the backing of a recognized political party in order to run as their official candidate, or to collect a minimum number of signatures in order to run as an independent candidate.^{[citation needed]}

Parliamentary

Department level

Schedule

Presidential and parliamentary elections are held every four years in Colombia.

Latest elections

2022 presidential election

Main article: 2022 Colombian presidential election

Candidate		Running mate	Party	First round		Second round
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	Gustavo Petro	Francia Márquez (SPS)	Humane Colombia	8,542,020	40.34	11,292,758	50.42
	Rodolfo Hernández	Marelen Castillo	Independent	5,965,531	28.17	10,604,656	47.35
	Federico Gutiérrez	Rodrigo Lara Sánchez	Creemos Colombia [es]	5,069,526	23.94
	Sergio Fajardo	Luis Gilberto Murillo (CR)	Independent Social Alliance	885,291	4.18
	John Milton Rodríguez [es]	Sandra de las Lajas Torres [es]	Colombia Justa Libres	271,386	1.28
	Enrique Gómez Martínez [es]	Carlos Cuartas	National Salvation Movement	48,643	0.23
	Íngrid Betancourt[a]	José Luis Esparza	Oxygen Green Party	14,161	0.07
	Luis Pérez Gutiérrez [es][a]	Ceferino Mosquera	Independent	11,507	0.05
Blank votes				365,777	1.73	500,069	2.23
Total				21,173,842	100.00	22,397,483	100.00
Valid votes				21,173,842	98.75	22,397,483	98.72
Invalid votes				268,458	1.25	291,551	1.28
Total votes				21,442,300	100.00	22,689,034	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				39,002,239	54.98	39,002,239	58.17
Source: Registraduria (first round), Registraduria (second round),

2022 parliamentary election

Main article: 2018 Colombian parliamentary election

Senate

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Historic Pact for Colombia	2,880,254	16.95	20
	Colombian Conservative Party	2,238,678	13.18	15
	Colombian Liberal Party	2,112,528	12.43	14
	Hope Center–Green Alliance	1,958,369	11.53	13
	Democratic Center	1,949,905	11.48	13
	Radical Change	1,609,173	9.47	11
	Union Party for the People	1,506,567	8.87	10
	MIRA–Fair and Free Colombia	584,806	3.44	4
	Civic Force	431,166	2.54	0
	New Liberalism	368,345	2.17	0
	We are Ready Colombia	115,120	0.68	0
	SOS Colombia	56,767	0.33	0
	New People Movement	37,063	0.22	0
	National Salvation Movement	31,289	0.18	0
	Commons	25,708	0.15	5
	Metapolitical Unitary Movement	12,165	0.07	0
Presidential election runner-up				1
Blank votes		1,072,401	6.31	–
Total		16,990,304	100.00	106
Valid votes		16,990,304	93.04
Invalid votes		1,270,720	6.96
Total votes		18,261,024	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		38,819,901	47.04
Indigenous seats
	Indigenous and Social Alternative Movement	89,199	30.40	1
	Indigenous Authorities of Colombia	63,373	21.60	1
	Colombian Indigenous Party	28,312	9.65	0
	Environmental Mandate	14,825	5.05	0
	Association of Indigenous Councils for Colombia	13,580	4.63	0
	Campo Alegre Protection	4,749	1.62	0
	National Association of Cabildos and Indigenous Authorities in Colombia	3,757	1.28	0
	Ancestral Socio-Political Organisation	2,052	0.70	0
	Democracia Desde Abajo La Palma	1,580	0.54	0
Blank votes		71,978	24.53	–
Total		293,405	100.00	2
Valid votes		293,405	78.09
Invalid/blank votes		82,303	21.91
Total votes		375,708	100.00
Source: [4]

Chamber of Representatives

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Historic Pact for Colombia	2,922,409	17.62	28
	Colombian Liberal Party	2,335,426	14.08	32
	Colombian Conservative Party	2,068,076	12.47	25
	Democratic Center	1,692,491	10.20	16
	Union Party for the People	1,439,579	8.68	15
	Radical Change	1,319,437	7.95	16
	Green Alliance	1,093,836	6.59	11
	Hope Center Coalition	445,549	2.69	2
	MIRA–Fair and Free Colombia	288,617	1.74	1
	New Liberalism	282,271	1.70	1
	League of Anti-Corruption Governors	172,342	1.04	2
	Historic Pact–Green Alliance	149,218	0.90	2
	Radical Change–Fair and Free Colombia–MIRA	136,622	0.82	1
	Colombian Conservative Party–Union Party for the People	111,497	0.67	1
	Colombian Conservative Party–Democratic Center	99,138	0.60	1
	Radical Change–MIRA	84,704	0.51	1
	Civic Force	71,075	0.43	1
	Colombian Liberal Party–Fair and Free Colombia	68,468	0.41	1
	Colombia Renaissance Party	62,490	0.38	1
	Alternativos (AV–PDA)	60,527	0.36	2
	Union Party for the People–MIRA–Fair and Free Colombia	60,412	0.36	0
	Radical Change–Fair and Free Colombia	58,674	0.35	0
	Independent Movement of Absolute Renovation	56,911	0.34	0
	Gente en Movimiento	54,933	0.33	1
	National Salvation Movement	38,123	0.23	0
	Together for Caldas (ASI–D–NL–MIRA)	36,479	0.22	1
	Radical Change–CJL–MIRA–Union Party for the People	34,743	0.21	0
	MIRA–Democratic Center–Fair and Free Colombia	32,514	0.20	0
	AV–Hope Center Coalition	31,873	0.19	0
	Union Party for the People–MIRA–CJL–ASI	30,022	0.18	0
	Colombian Conservative Party–CJL–MIRA	29,947	0.18	0
	Human Colombia Political Movement	29,845	0.18	0
	Colombian Conservative Party–CJL–MSN	24,162	0.15	0
	Commons	21,423	0.13	5
	MIRA–CJL–MSN	18,165	0.11	0
	Dignity	16,431	0.10	0
	Independent Social Alliance	12,765	0.08	0
	MIRA–Democratic Center	11,688	0.07	0
	Union Party for the People–MIRA–Radical Change	9,549	0.06	0
	Union Party for the People–Fair and Free Colombia	6,612	0.04	1
	The Change is Me Digital Movement	6,234	0.04	0
	Colombian Liberal Party–Independent Social Alliance	4,018	0.02	0
	Force Colombia (Colombia Renaissance Party–ASI)	2,371	0.01	0
	National Salvation Movement–Fair and Free Colombia	1,853	0.01	0
	Indigenous Authorities of Colombia	629	0.00	0
	Fair and Free Colombia	41	0.00	0
Vice-presidential runner-up				1
Blank votes		1,053,480	6.35	–
Total		16,587,669	100.00	169
Valid votes		16,587,669	93.17
Invalid/blank votes		1,215,344	6.83
Total votes		17,803,013	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		38,819,901	45.86
Afro-Colombian seats
	Palenque de la Vereda las Trecientas y del Municipio de Galapa	66,474	14.07	1
	Fernando Ríos Hidalgo	40,049	8.48	1
	CC de la Comunidad Negra Limones	39,924	8.45	0
	CC La Toma	25,602	5.42	0
	CC Manuel Zapata Olivella De San Antero	25,322	5.36	0
	CC Afrozabaletas	20,189	4.27	0
	CC de la Costa Pacífica "Concosta"	12,605	2.67	0
	CC Bocas del Atrato y Leoncito	12,306	2.60	0
	CC la Voz de Los Negros	11,730	2.48	0
	CC de Comunidades Negras De Guayabal	11,081	2.35	0
	Organización Étnica de Comunidades Afros los Palenkes	9,285	1.97	0
	CC Mayor de Casimiro	7,834	1.66	0
	CC Mayor de Certegui	7,654	1.62	0
	CC de Comunidades Negras de Campo Hermoso	6,181	1.31	0
	Partido Colombia Renaciente	6,152	1.30	0
	CC Bocas de Taparal	5,270	1.12	0
	Somos Identidad	5,031	1.06	0
	Movimiento Alianza Democrática Amplia	4,298	0.91	0
	CC Integral de Lloró	4,263	0.90	0
	CC de la Comunidad Negra de Villa Gloria	4,074	0.86	0
	CC Veredas Unidas un Bien Común	4,056	0.86	0
	CC Unión Patía Viejo	4,015	0.85	–
	CC del Río Guajuí	3,963	0.84	0
	Consejo Comunit Piedras Bachichi Correg Santa Cecilia	3,613	0.76	0
	Fundación para el Desarrollo Social de Comunidades Negras	3,356	0.71	0
	Alianza Nacional Afrocolombiana	2,976	0.63	0
	CC de Comunidades Negras Socolando	2,942	0.62	0
	CC Rio Curbaradó	2,681	0.57	0
	Conmoguz	2,456	0.52	0
	CC de Flamenco - Municipio de María La Baja	2,330	0.49	0
	Asoc Afrocol Desplazados Mcpio Guacarí Valle del Cauca "ADAG"	2,322	0.49	0
	CC Alto Paraíso	2,296	0.49	0
	CC Puerto Girón	2,147	0.45	0
	CC Arcilla, Cardón y Tuna	2,113	0.45	0
	Consejo Mayor Condoto Iró	1,923	0.41	0
	CC de Vuelta Manza	1,860	0.39	0
	Consejo Comunit Recuerdo de Nuestros Ancestros Rio Mejicano	1,804	0.38	0
	CC de los Corregimientos de San Antonio y El Castillo Municipio de El Cerrito	1,750	0.37	0
	CC Rescate Las Varas	1,687	0.36	0
	CC del Guabal	1,624	0.34	0
	Corporación Kofi Annan	1,594	0.34	0
	Corporación De Educadores del Litoral Pacifico Corelipa	1,186	0.25	0
	Afromutata	1,087	0.23	0
	Asociación Afrodescendientes de Arboletes	996	0.21	0
	Coacneja	937	0.20	0
	Fundación Social Magende Mi	633	0.13	0
	Odeprivicor	542	0.11	0
	Comunidad de Negros de Aguas Blancas	404	0.09	0
Blank votes		87,809	18.59	–
Total		472,426	100.00	2
Valid votes		472,426	83.86
Invalid/blank votes		90,917	16.14
Total votes		563,343	100.00
Indigenous seat
	Indigenous and Social Alternative Movement	84,637	42.26	1
	Indigenous Authorities of Colombia	27,089	13.52	0
	Colombian Indigenous Party	18,828	9.40	0
	National Association of Cabildos and Indigenous Authorities in Colombia	7,957	3.97	0
	Aywjawashi Indigenous Council	7,870	3.93	0
	Resguardo Indígena Alta y Media Guajira	5,556	2.77	0
	Resguardo Indígena Zenú Del Alto San Jorge	2,900	1.45	0
Blank votes		45,459	22.70	–
Total		200,296	100.00	1
Valid votes		200,296	84.29
Invalid/blank votes		37,338	15.71
Total votes		237,634	100.00
Source: [5]

See also

• Corruption in Colombia
• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• Government of Colombia

Notes

1. Withdrew before election but appeared on ballot