This Friday, March 18, the political parties Cambio Radical and the U Party reported that they will join the two seats in the Colombian Congress in order to consolidate a joint legislative agenda “that seeks alternatives to the main problems” of the country.
This announcement comes five days after the legislative elections were held in Colombia, which defined the formation of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the single candidates of the coalitions that will compete in the first presidential round, where both collectivities suffered considerable reductions in the occupation of seats.
“The joint work of our benches should be a fundamental pillar in defense of democracy, freedom of enterprise and the protection of private property, the fight against corruption, the defense of agriculture and the strengthening of democratic institutions. It is a progressive, democratic agenda of social change and strictly adhered to the Constitution and the Law,” indicated the communities that have declared themselves independent in the current government.
In this regard, they indicated that they will jointly build policy proposals that seek to materialize in projects whose main axes are energy transition, citizen security, social equity, peace, employment generation, the fight against drug trafficking, decentralization and regional autonomies, education and health.
Likewise, the directors of both parties, Dilan Francisca Toro (of La U) and Germán Córdoba (of Radical Change), invited the “Democrats” to join this agenda with which they seek to “advance along the paths of prosperity, justice and democracy.”
“We will fight for the sustainability of the country's public prosecutor, for the defense of the pensions of Colombians, for the increase of public-private partnerships for the improvement of the country's connectivity, for life and the protection of human rights,” they concluded in the statement.
The Radical Change party, which this Friday withdrew the Colombian presidential candidacy that had assigned its director, suffered a major setback in the elections on Sunday, March 13, in which it reached only 11 seats in the Senate, five fewer than in 2018, in which it represented the majority force together with the party of government.
Likewise, the U Party suffered widespread voter discontent at the polls, in which it reached only ten seats in the Senate, four fewer than in 2018, and eleven fewer seats in the House of Representatives compared to that same year, which shows a blow to the communities that were aligned with the governments of Álvaro Uribe and Juan Manuel Santos, and who supported some projects of President Iván Duque.
In the same way, the communities added candidates to the pavilion of the burned, in the case of Cambio Radical, a party that has generated expectations for a possible candidacy of Germán Vargas Lleras for president, Luis Alonso Colmenares, father of Luis Andrés, was burned, whose death on the El Virrey channel was not resolved; Temístocles Ortega, who wanted to repeat as Senator Bolo won the expected votes; Yefer Vega, elected councillor of Bogotá with the highest vote of this party from 2020 to 2023, and César Lorduy, Arturo Char's formula in the House in the last elections. As for candidates for the House for Bogotá, José Daniel López did not have a good ending.
And in the case of the U, Caterine Ibargüen, a double Olympic medalist, head of the list for the Senate of the collective, burned completely: she did not receive the vote of the Colombians who celebrated their triumphs in the triple jump, making it clear that politics is one thing and sport another. Hugo Ospina, leader of taxi drivers, also failed in his attempt to reach Congress.
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