A fight over a historic contract to rent a balcony; 2023 elections are at stake

With regional and local elections less than a year away, tensions over the historic pact seem to be worsening. The leftist platform that brought Gustavo Pedro to the presidency will now seek regional power. It aims to elect 600 mayors, 15 governorships and 3,000 councilors and 600 representatives by October next year. These are ambitious figures for a coalition that won a crucial victory in the legislative elections with 2.5 million votes, except for Casa de Nariño.

The goal is clear, but the path is not defined. First, we will have to wait and see how Gustavo Pedro’s government progresses and what its performance will be in the coming year. A possible recession threatens to hit the national economy and families.

As Pedro grapples with this troubling outlook, the rifts in his coalition are becoming more public. On the one hand, the dissatisfaction of sectors such as the Democratic Pole and the Mais party due to the lack of bureaucratic participation. Even if they don’t say it, they are disaffected and want to see more play in the cabinet. A source told SEMANA that the matter was raised in internal meetings, but the President avoided the matter.

In the regions, much of the bureaucracy is still in the hands of traditional parties, which irritates the Petrista bench. To this must be added the deep differences between Senator Gustavo Bolivar and the President of the Senate, Roy Barreras. The conflict stemmed from the concurrence of Senate lists and worsened when Pedro preferred Barreras as head of the institution.

This week, Bolívar revealed the way candidates for mayors and governors are chosen, but Barreras, who moves like a fish in water in progressive sectors, contradicted him.

Bolívar believed that no party should make personal concessions in the historic treaty, and that those who wanted to become candidates should beat other candidates in deliberation. “Whoever wins will be a contract candidate, but their possibilities are being analyzed. They see if there is a need to ally with other similar parties, such as the Green Alliance and the Liberal Party, which will never be able to make a democratic center or radical change,” Bolívar said.

Uncomfortable with the government’s handling of some progressive sectors, he hopes not to make the same mistakes in 2023 assembly elections.

“What is happening now in the bureaucracy will not happen with the support of alternative parties: those who did not fight for the cause, those who reached the conclusion or what is worse? , those who came later,” he said. Bolívar didn’t name names, but the address was clear: he mentioned the Sandista line that had given place to progressive sectors in the Casa de Nareno, and which today speaks to the president’s ear.

Realizing that he was referring to Bolivar’s message, Barreras replied: “We are all in agreement, including the indigenous of destruction (in my case, proudly from Sandista for 15 years for peace). Ada and the Peace Corps were the founders and builders of the pact that made possible the success of a progressive government. In addition, he spoke of an open broad front in which the left and progressive sectors do not fit exclusively.

A fight between Bolivar and Barreras over the rent of a balcony. Although Bolivar resigned from the Senate in March, he will continue to influence regional elections. In fact, the radical left believes that its presence in the territories is essential in the historic treaty. Barres, for his part, will have the power to select candidates for mayor and governor. By manipulating Congress, he gains recognition and becomes close to Senator María José Pizarro and Speaker of the House David Racero, who talks Pedro into his ear.

Also, the National Electoral Council (CNE) is examining a request to convert the Fuerza de la Paz movement, of which Barreras is a member, into a political party. Semana learned that the decision would come out in his favor in a matter of weeks, giving him more decision-making power in the historic treaty.

Bolivar and Barreras are aware that Pedro is holding his first litmus test in October 2023, which could be a vote to approve or reject the presidential administration. The new regional power map will also shed light on whether the Left has the strength to retain power in the 2026 presidential election.

The president is aware of the differences in the historic agreement. In fact, he is taught to overcome them by his prolonged silence. He knows that it is impossible to unite a broad front of progressive forces that starts from difference. For this reason, he insists on making the historic treaty a single party.

“The most appropriate decision is to unify and materialize the unity of Colombian progressivism. We must learn from the good results of the past, such as closed, equal and alternative lists,” Senator María José Pizarro told SEMANA.

The proposal is attractive, but dangerous to some parties who see it as a potential loss of power. Some of the leaders of Polo Democratico and Mize are unwilling to give up their legal status as they remain under Pedro’s exclusive umbrella.

A final decision has not yet been made, but representative Alirio Uribe knows that the merger in 2023 is almost impossible.

However, if the political reform is approved in May and passes the Constitutional Court’s control, the turncoat article will be ratified once. That would lead to a flight of Polo Democratico and Moise members toward Colombia Humana, or the party that President Pedro eventually manages to create.

The historic agreement will end with a merger and the discussion of closed lists will return. Bogotá councilor Carlos Carrillo believes that for the nation’s capital, a closed list would mean almost ten councilors for the city, with more than 2.2 million votes that Pedro received in the second presidential round.

It will be difficult to reach an agreement with the national committee, which is in charge of assembling the closed lists through departments and municipalities, because the first places will win. Many people today remember the confusion and cracks in the allocation of seats for the Senate and the Chamber.

Another looming battle is who will win Bogotá’s mayoral bid. Today the historic agreement lacks any important details, and if political reform does not materialize, the names of Gustavo Bolivar, Clara López, María José Pizarro, David Racero and Catherine Miranda will remain in the limelight. To think of a plan b.

Former Secretary of Government Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo and Councilor Carlos Carrillo can list their aspirations, but the issue is not so easy, as a sector of Petrism believes in a union with the Green Alliance. However, those close to Claudia López say she does not want to support a candidate other than the one she signed. Additionally, the Petrista bench in the council has been highly critical of the mayor’s administration.

The electoral success of the historic deal depends on the outcome of the upcoming 2023 elections, where regional and local power are at stake.