pl
BOGOTA, 2020-07-20 (RHC) — The new Colombian Congress for the period 2022-2026 will be installed this Wednesday in an official ceremony to coincide with the celebration of the 212-year independence craze that liberated the country from Spanish colonialism.
The chamber’s 108 senators and 187 deputies, elected on March 13 in historic elections that enforced the historic pact, will take office despite adversity, uncertainty, allegedly lost votes, altered ballots and other anomalies occurring after the election were denounced.
A distinctive feature of the new legislature is that the Chamber will have 16 more MPs than in previous years, as those elected by the Special Transitional Peace Districts defined in the 2016 Peace Accords will take their seats for the first time. .
Of the 108 senators, 20 will be from the Historic Pact, 14 from the Liberal Party, 12 from the Green Alliance, 10 from the U Party, five from the Commons, one from the Movement of Indigenous Authorities of Colombia and one from the Alternative Indigenous and social movement that will be the government bench.
Among the independents are 15 from the Conservative Party, 11 from Cambio Radical, four from the Christian Movements, one from the League of Anticorruption Leaders and Humberto de la Calle from the Green Alliance.
The 13 senators from the Democratic Center announced yesterday that they will oppose the government of President-elect Gustavo Petro, who will take office on August 7th.
According to Barreras, who will become the new president of Congress, a parliamentary majority has been established, “the largest that any president in Colombia’s history will take office in recent memory”.
Referring to the tasks of the Congress, Gustavo Petro said that while the reforms are being processed, an active and mobilized citizenry must accompany them.
“You have to have a vibrant society that organizes, mobilizes, builds democracy, a government that is on the side of social movements, and social movements that can accompany the reforms without being co-opted by the government,” he said .
He pointed out that there is an important group of congressmen who have decided to support his administration, but even then are not an absolute majority, so it is necessary to speak to part of the traditional politician to bring him to this to bring to opt for the support of the reforms he proposes.
In the Colombian Congress, each legislature has two periods: from July 20 to December 16 and from March 16 to June 20.
In each, the members of Congress meet in ordinary, extraordinary, special, permanent and reserved sessions, in which they discuss the laws and policies that are later approved by the President. (Source/PL)