On March 8, more than 19 million Colombians voted to elect a new Congress and pick presidential candidates in three simultaneous primaries. When the dust settled, the two loudest voices in the room had only gotten louder. Colombia’s political centre, meanwhile, was left searching for a pulse.
President Gustavo Petro’s Pacto Histórico won roughly 4.4 million votes for the Senate — about 23% of the total — translating into an estimated 25 of 102 seats. That is five more than the party held in the outgoing Congress, and it makes the left-wing coalition the single most powerful bloc in the upper chamber by a wide margin.
The Right Roars Back
The opposition Centro Democrático, the right-wing party founded by ex-president Álvaro Uribe, surged to roughly 3 million votes and an estimated 17 Senate seats — up from 13 four years ago. That 31% growth makes it the second-largest force in the chamber and cements its position as Colombia’s undisputed conservative standard-bearer. Uribe himself appeared in the 25th slot on the party’s closed Senate list but fell short of winning a seat.
Running simultaneously with the congressional vote, the party’s presidential primary was a blowout. Senator Paloma Valencia, a three-term lawmaker and granddaughter of a former president, won the right-wing coalition’s primary with over 3.2 million votes — more than all other eight candidates combined. She will now face leftist frontrunner Iván Cepeda in the first round of presidential elections on May 31.
The Centre Vanishes
The biggest losers of the night were Colombia’s centrist and smaller left-wing parties. The Green Alliance lost several of its most visible senators, including Angélica Lozano, Inti Asprilla, and Katherine Miranda — high-profile progressives whose defeats mark a generational shift within the party. Other smaller parties, including Comunes (the party born out of the 2016 peace deal with FARC) and the left-wing Frente Amplio, failed to clear the electoral threshold and face losing their legal recognition entirely.
Former Bogotá mayor Claudia López won the centrist presidential primary, while senator Roy Barreras — a political chameleon who has served in both left and right-wing governments — won the centre-left slot. But both primaries drew far fewer voters than Valencia’s right-wing contest, underscoring the gravitational pull of Colombia’s two ideological poles.
The Old Guard Holds Steady
Colombia’s traditional parties — Liberal and Conservative — performed as expected, which itself tells a story. The Liberals held their estimated 13 Senate seats with about 2.2 million votes, still powered by regional political machines. The top vote-getter on their list was Lidio García, the sitting Senate president; the second was Yesid Pulgar, whose brother Eduardo was convicted of trying to bribe a judge and is widely believed to still run the family’s political network from prison.
The Conservatives projected roughly 10 seats, led by Nadia Blel — sister of the governor of Bolívar department and the single most-voted individual senator in the country, with over 175,000 votes. These numbers confirm a reality that has defined Colombian politics for decades: clientelist networks in regional strongholds still deliver reliable results, even as national narratives swing left and right.
What It Means for the Presidential Race
The March 8 results set the stage for a polarised presidential contest. Cepeda, the Pacto Histórico candidate who leads most polls, now has the largest congressional bloc behind him — a critical advantage for governability if he wins. Valencia enters the race with proven electoral muscle and a consolidated right-wing base, but will need to reach centre-right voters to compete in a second round.
Petro himself acknowledged the result but conceded his coalition will not hold a majority, meaning any future left-wing government will need to cut deals with the traditional parties to pass legislation. That dynamic — a strong but minority left, a resurgent right, and a transactional centre holding the balance of power — is the shape of Colombian democracy heading into what promises to be the most consequential presidential election since Petro’s own historic victory in 2022.
This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Colombia news and Latin American financial news.
For more context, read Brazil’s Morning Call and the Chile IPSA report.