Peace deal critics win big in Colombia’s Congress

Latin America

Critics of the peace deal between the Colombian government and the FARC rebel group were the winners of the Congressional elections.

These were the first elections since demobilization, and the FARC militant group received less than one-percent of the vote.

CGTN’s Michelle Begue reports from Bogota.

Former President Alvaro Uribe ran for a senate seat. His right-wing political party, the Democratic Center, won the most seats of any political party. But these wins don’t mean it has a majority in Congress. The Democratic Center won 19 out of 108 seats in the Senate, and 35 out of a 171 seats in the House.

The vote was considered a barometer for the first round of presidential elections on May 27. Over 9 million citizens voted in Interparty Consultations to choose presidential candidates. Ivan Duque won the right-wing coalition with the support of Alvaro Uribe, and former Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro won a left-wing primary.

While alliances are formed in the next two months, candidates will need to gather more support for their campaigns. Meanwhile, Colombians continue to show high absentee rates at the polls. Colombia’s National Registry reported that more than half of the country eligible voters stayed home.