The only one who fulfills its mission by including women in Congress is the Historical Treaty: MOE.

After the parliamentary elections of the Republic held on March 13, the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) reported that these elections marked the history of the places women will occupy in the legislature. However, not all parties contributed to this female representative.

EOM assured that 83 women were elected. 33 will occupy seats in the Senate and 51 will arrive in the House of Representatives. “This means that 29% of the seats will be held by women.” It should be recalled that this is a preliminary report because 98.84% of the polls were compiled.

If these results are confirmed, there will be 10 more women's senators in the Senate of the Republic compared to the 2018 elections, and the presence of women in the Senate will increase from 21.3% to 30.8%.

In the House of Representatives, 46 women were elected from the Territorial Chamber of Commerce, one woman who is Colombian abroad, one woman from the African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and three women from the Peace Special Transitional District (CITREP), which means that 28% of these seats belong to the female gender.

It should be recalled that EOM also highlighted an increase in the political representation of LGBTIQ+ people in the Congress of the Republic. In 2018, it was conducted from two House members of the House of Representatives elected to six people belonging to this community: one in the Senate and five in the House of Representatives. “The arrival of these lawmakers marks a breakthrough in democracy and is an opportunity to promote a legislative agenda that guarantees the rights of people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.” The organization said.

Infobae Colombia interviewed Alejandra Barrios, head of EOM, who commented on the reasons for this historic vote.

Infobae: This representation of women in Congress is the highest in Colombian history.As mentioned in the EOM, why?

Alejandra Barrios (A.B.) : Society is clearly changing. Girls and young people who have gone out into the streets call for change. It was not abandoned, they got it on the street and got it by saying, “We are ready to have power and we must take into account”. In that struggle, I also think that I should acknowledge all the men who accompanied those women, brothers, boyfriends, dads, husbands, grandparents. “Yes, they have been ready for a while, but they have not seen them.”

Infobae: Women are ready to take up this space, but why did they actually get 29% representation in Congress?

A.B.: It is important to note that we have not yet reached a representation of 30% and that it is still lower than what is established in terms of the quota law for the formation of lists. However, due to the pressure of women's organizations in society, it has been shown that it is impossible to think of the presidential vice-presidential formula without women today.

These social needs were initially reflected in the formation of four lists, in which the efforts of equality and alternation were made.

Infobae Colombia: The four private lists for pursuing equality come from the new liberalism, Commons. For a peace agreement, except for 5 seats - a historical agreement and we were prepared, but only a historical treaty reached the Senate from those parties, why did this happen?

A.B.: We have followed up on the issue of financing political campaigns and the first obstacle is that political organizations that do not achieve private funding have to wait for the country to develop.

It is that this is being regulated, but in the end the private finance sector becomes a barrier because it is he who must provide a policy that includes the resources that must be paid. In addition, policies must be backed up with real assets, and it becomes almost impossible to obtain resources that must guarantee election results.

Infobae Colombia: Despite this panorama, the presence of the first Indigenous woman in the district and the first Palenquera woman who arrived at the Chamber of Commerce via Bolivar was highlighted. How will this affect the government over the next four years?

A.B.: It is always surprising to see great indigenous leaders under the command of private houses and organizations, but when they switch to political representation, they are not there. The beginning of these organizations is to open the way, but above all to recognize representation. This was also seen in the competition of the Union of Preliminary Candidates for the Presidency of the Republic in a historical agreement after the African woman Francia Márquez voted for the third of the 15 candidates.

For decades, something has begun to change in the country because political representation has been seen only in white men. Colombia is opening up various options for representation, which is very important because it represents different interests, other cultural approaches and other territorial approaches.

Infobar Colombia: In that sense, which political parties and departments have elected the most women in Congress?

A.B.: In the case of assessing the actions of the parties in relation to the consequences of the inclusion of women, the only one who fulfills the task of those who have passed the threshold is a historical treaty. 8 out of 16 members of the Senate of the Republic will be women, that is, half.

The rest of the parties do not carry out their duties: Radical Change has chosen only 11 members of the Senate of the Republic and one woman from the U party, and only one woman out of 10 senators is a huge distance.

The departments where the most women were elected in the House of Representatives were Amazonas (women had 2 seats, 100%), Quindío (67%), Sucre (67%), Magdalena (60%) and Bogotá (56%). The political parties where the majority of women were elected were the Liberal Party (11), the History Treaty (9), the U Party (5) and the Conservative Party (5).

Infobae Colombia: Which department had the least number of representatives?

A.B.: Well, in 10 of the 19 departments that were not subject to gender quotas, no women had a place. The Guaviare department did not have women as candidates for the House of Representatives, and Norte de Santander remains the only department in its entire history that has a gender quota on the list where women were not elected to represent the House of Representatives.

Looking at these departments, all departments have experienced high levels of violence against society, politics, and common leaders, and continue to suffer violence.

Infobae Colombia: Of the 16 Peace Special Transitional Districts (CITREP), 3 seats have been achieved for women.How do I confirm this result at EOM?

A.B.: In the election observation mission, we are sad. There is a list that should have parity for the two candidates running for the first time submitted candidates.We hoped that we could have more women, and at least 5 to 6 seats would have been a very good start. This tells us that for women in rural areas, barriers to access representation are very strong.

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