Amelia Makstutis, Lily O’Sullivan and Jonathan Hernández Nassif contributed to reporting.

Colombians went to the polls on Sunday to choose new representatives to Congress and the Senate, as well as presidential candidates for three main political blocs. Both the ruling leftist party and opposition right-wing party had good showings, setting up a potentially polarizing next legislative term. 

Despite warnings of possible political violence by the country’s illegal armed groups, elections took place “without any major security incidents” according to the United Nations mission in Colombia. Overall voter turnout was around 48%, about on par with previous legislative election years. 

With over 3,000 candidates competing for 102 Senate and 182 House seats, leftist President Gustavo Petro’s Historic Pact (Pacto Historico) party and the opposition Democratic Center (Centro Democratic) — founded by former right-wing President Álvaro Uribe — had the strongest showing Sunday. 

By 10:00 PM, with nearly 100% of preliminary votes tallied, Historic Pact secured 22.8% of Senate votes while the Democratic Center tallied 15.6%, according to the National Civil Registry. The Liberal Party (Partido Liberal), Green Alliance (Alianza Verde), and the Conservative Party (Partido Conservador de Colombia) trailed with 11.7%, 9.8% and 9.6% respectively. 

Official tallies for the lower house are still unclear, but analysts expect a divided Congress. 

The results could keep Colombia’s legislature polarized as no party was able to secure an absolute majority. Throughout his presidency, Petro has faced barriers in Congress to passing his progressive legislation and he even called for a constituent assembly to circumvent the body. 

His party’s presidential candidate, Senator Ivan Cepeda, who aims to carry the torch for Petro’s reforms, celebrated the party’s win in the senate race saying, “Today our second half begins, with a strong and committed caucus we will begin a new stage of transformations.” 

Political risk consultant Sergio Guzman told Reuters, “The left showed that it is here to stay, the ​right that it is divided, but it is not weak. We are going to have a fragmented Congress for the next legislature.”

Jeni Suarez, 41, who voted for the Historic Pact for the Senate and Congress, told The Bogotá Post in Medellin that the most important problem at the moment is the “political war from side to side.” 

Presidential primaries 

In addition to the House and Senate, Colombia also held three primary elections — known as inter-party consultations – to choose candidates for the three main political blocs: left, centrist, and right-wing. 

Two candidates currently leading in the polls — far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda — were not included in the primaries and the eventual nominees from the three consultations – “The Consultation for Solutions: Health, Security, and Education” (center); “Front for Life” (left), and “The Great Consultation for Colombia” (right) – will go on to compete against them in the first round of presidential elections on May 31. 

Sunday night’s big winner was Paloma Valencia, a protégé of former President Uribe’s Democratic Center party with a political pedigree that includes a former president grandfather and an aunt who was Colombia’s first female cabinet-level minister. 

Addressing her base at her victory party, Valencia lambasted President Petro, calling his administration “a time bomb that’s ticking down the seconds until it explodes.” 

In an interview ahead of the primaries, Valencia told Latin America Reports, “I am Uribista, and I will die Uribista,” and said she plans to follow in her mentor’s footsteps. 

Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia Lopez handily won her Consultation for Solutions primary, and former Medellín Mayor Daniel Quintero conceded to longtime politician and former Senator Roy Barreras in the Front for Life consultation. 

“I want to congratulate Roy on his victory. I will support him as required by law,” said Quintero on X. “I hope he leads us toward a process of unity.”

Election security 

In the days leading up to elections, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that non-State armed groups were using violence to control civilian populations in Colombia and could undermine election security. 

Last year, the UN recorded 18 homicides and 126 cases of attacks and threats against political leaders, including the high-profile assassination of right-wing pre-presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay, who was shot in the head at rally in Bogotá’s Modelia neighborhood in June and succumbed to his injuries in August. 

On Sunday, Minister of Defense Pedro Sánchez said over 240,000 security forces had been deployed to safeguard elections, which a delegate for the National Civil Registry called a “peaceful day at the polls, except for some isolated cases in the regions.”

Voting was temporarily suspended in the rural municipality of La Macarena, Meta following an alleged drone strike by a guerilla group near a polling station, according to the National Civil Registry. The agency also denounced “100 million cyberattacks” against its website.

Other election interference, including vote-buying was also reported. Colombia’s National Police said they captured 88 people related to elections and seized over $990,000 (COP 3,761,000,000) in cash meant to influence voting. 

In the hours leading up to the election, Víctor Hugo Moreno Bandeira, the Democratic Center congressional candidate in the southern Amazonas department, was arrested with $5,200 (COP $20 million) in cash allegedly meant for vote buying. His party later suspended his candidacy. 

And Fredy Camilo Gómez Castro, a senatorial candidate for The U Party (Partido de la U), was arrested and accused of being the right-hand to Colombia’s contraband king, Diego Marín, alias “Papá Pitufo.”

On Colombia’s eastern border with Venezuela, Defense Minister Sánchez denounced mass illegal border crossings, with an estimated 2,400 people crossing the Tachira river “presumably headed to vote.”

While his party had success, Álvaro Uribe fell flat 

For the first time in his storied political career, the History Channel’s “Greatest Colombian in History”, Álvaro Uribe, failed to win a seat in the Senate. 

Projections indicate that Uribe’s Democratic Center party will secure 17 seats in the Senate, and he was placed 25th on the list of his party’s candidates, effectively excluding him from a seat. 

Uribe, who won over much of Colombia’s electorate for beating back leftist guerrillas during his presidential terms between 2002 and 2010, has come under fire in recent years for his ties to drug traffickers and paramilitary death squads. 

Last August, the controversial president was convicted of procedural fraud and bribing a witness and was sentenced to 12 years house arrest before Bogotá’s Superior Court overturned the conviction two months later.

Amelia Makstutis, Lily O’Sullivan and Jonathan Hernández Nassif contributed to reporting.

The post Historic Pact and Democratic Center parties lead Colombia’s legislative elections appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Daniela Restrepo, a Colombian PR professional who lives in Pereira, who studied marketing and communication prior to working in international brand management and strategy execution, has been supporting companies in PR fro close to a decade, while also serving as a Mentor at the Founder institute.

For International Women’s Day, we had the opportunity to ask her for advice for founders looking to approach the Colombian media market, with a focus on female entrepreneurs.

Tell us what tips women entrepreneurs can use to start doing public relations for their startup. What would those first steps be to understand how to start connecting:

Public relations is an important element in supporting the reach and value of a brand for all stakeholders. All the corporate elements of the brand, from the tone and personality, the functional and emotional benefits, the central message, the final objective, and even its reputation -if they are fully harnessed with the internal and external public- can help to increase the performance, credibility and return of a brand or company.

Define your objective: What is the result you expect or seek from your efforts through public relations? Is it visibility? Do you want to position your CEO? Are you looking for traffic on your website?

Define your audience: Before you start creating any public relations strategy, you must clearly define who you are talking to. Who are they? What interests you? What problems do they face? This will help you create narratives and angles that resonate with them.

Create relevant and compelling stories: Good public relations is all about telling a fresh, interesting and compelling story around your industry. Identify the unique aspects of your venture and create coherent narratives aligned with your purpose.

Identify your relevant media: Investigate the media that are relevant to your business, specialized publications, podcasts, influencers, among others. Look for opportunities to connect, build relationships and collaborate with them, bringing actionable insights.

Connect with journalists: As you identify your relevant outlets, look for journalists who cover the issues related to your business and industry. You can follow them on social networks, initiate contact and keep them updated about the news of your venture.

Create quality content: The creation of quality content is a fundamental part of any public relations strategy. Publish articles on your blog, create infographics, post opinions about big news in your industry, and more. The key is to create content that is valuable and relevant to your audience.

Maintain an active presence on social networks: Social networks such as LinkedIn or Twitter are an excellent way to reach your audience and keep it updated.

Why and how can Social Media and Public Relations strategies create identity and credibility of my brand?
As I mentioned earlier, a recurring and well-executed social presence allows you to create relevant and useful content for your audience, which can increase your brand visibility and generate an emotional connection with followers.

On the other hand, a Public Relations strategy keeps you in permanent contact with journalists and the media, which can increase the exposure of your brand and establish it as a reliable source of information. Journalists often look for the prior presence of your startup in the media to verify its credibility, and an effective PR strategy can ensure that your brand is present and seen positively in those media.

Strategies to facilitate meetings between investors and audiences.
Attending industry events to which your venture belongs allows you to start building relationships, stay current, and be on the radar of investors and potential customers.
Apply to venture capital funds and investment programs in your country to present your business and get appointments with investors.

Enroll in pre-seed accelerators that accompany you throughout the process and help you shape your ideas and your final product/service.
Monitor the networks of the investors you are looking for, pay attention to your venture to find out their tastes and preferences.
Make a calendar of events relevant to your industry and the investors you are looking for, to provide more networking spaces.
How to identify which communication channels are best suited to my business model?
They say that if you don’t try, you’ll never know. This is the case with the different resources that you have available through a PR strategy, articles, blogs, podcasts, events, interviews, all of the above represents an opportunity to make your venture and your voice known. Many startups feel more affinity for speaking at interviews or events, others connect better with their audience through written articles. So I would not dare to say that there is a suitable channel for each business model, the more channels explored and a presence achieved, the better. Of course, always evaluating how linked it is to the objective sought with the PR actions.

How to stand out in the eyes of investors, press and clients?
Definitely, a solid public relations strategy focused on “brand awareness” or brand presence can be key to obtaining multiple benefits when looking for investors. By implementing this strategy, the press, investors and potential clients are provided with various sources of information about the news, capabilities and services of your venture.

Brand presence is essential for any business, since it allows consumers to easily identify the company, its products or services in the market. In addition to improving brand visibility, it can help build your business’s reputation and improve consumer trust; especially important factors when looking for investment.

Digital support tools that can be used to strengthen the media strategy and brand positioning.
Social networks

Web page

Blogging

Importance of the perception of the CEO’s image as accessible and close within storytelling.
The perception of the CEO’s image as accessible and close is crucial for a successful company. A CEO must be able to balance his leadership skills and business skills with the ability to learn and connect with his team on a personal level. Humility is essential to understand that a company depends on teamwork and the dedication of its employees.

In today’s business world, the image of a humane, inclusive, values-based CEO has become increasingly important. The way the CEO presents himself to the public and how he relates to his team and the media is crucial to the perception of his company and industry. A CEO who seeks to have an inclusive and positive impact not only on his company, but on society as a whole, is seen as an exceptional leader and is often admired by his employees and the community at large.

How to challenge gender stereotypes through egalitarian advertising, which includes the gender perspective in communication.
It is an important business responsibility that can have a significant impact on society, the team and the relationships between men and women and their roles within a company, providing equal value to both.

This can be mitigated by avoiding traditional gender roles, implementing and executing diversity programs in different areas of the company and having it reflected in company communications, empowering women on teams to discover their potential, emphasizing on gender equality as a premise and pillar of the company, and Considering both genders during decision-making in each company process are some of the things with which you can start to make a significant change from the inside out.

The rate of female entrepreneurship in Latin America in 2021 was described as one of the lowest according to the Mastercard Index of women entrepreneurs.

However, according to the data offered by the World Bank, female entrepreneurship in Latin America has reached 50% during the year 2022, data that encourages us to share information that trains in education related to the success of their projects, as well as giving visibility of them, so that every day the statistics grow in our favor.

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