With the unprecedented circumstantial support of Petrism, former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez won the fight for the most important position in Congress with the victory of Samario Honorio Henríquez as president of the Senate, inaugurating the incoming government of Abelardo De la Espriella with a defeat in the Legislature, even before having taken office. Although the result does not imply a break between the right-wing sectors —from the Democratic Center they insisted on their decision to be a government party—, It does anticipate that the construction of majorities and the governability of the new Executive will be far from being a clear path.
While Abelardism seeks for the National Electoral Council (CNE) to grant free rein for the Defenders for the Homeland movement to become a political party to carry the flags of the right, Uribismo demonstrated on the night of July 20 that it continues to be one of the main forces in the Capitol.
Henríquez won with 56 votes compared to the 45 of Guajiro Alfredo Deluque, the candidate who had the support of the president-elect, but who did not have the affection of Uribe, who considered that dignity belonged to his party as it was the majority government bench. The result marked an unprecedented fact: For the first time in many years, an incoming government failed to bring the candidate of its choice to the presidency of the Senate for the first year of its mandate, considered key to the processing and approval of the Executive’s legislative agenda.
“Although the right-wing alliance has not been broken, the government is inaugurated with a defeat. If Abelardo thought he could take over a single leadership alone, he was wrong. A subtle co-government has been installed in Casa de Nariño,” said the former senator. Humberto de la Calle.
This is how the Democratic Center celebrated the election of Honorio Henríquez as president of the Senate Photo:THE TIME
For the political analyst Pedro Medellinthe incoming government of Abelardo De la Espriella opened an unnecessary and exhausting battle for its own interests. In his opinion, the president-elect had a sufficient majority in Congress and had no need to contest the presidency of the Senate, a position that, by political tradition, usually corresponds to the government party with the greatest representation in that corporation.
“We must take on the fights that are necessary, not those that are invented. The president-elect had a guaranteed majority in Congress, there was institutional stability. The agreements were that whoever wins the majority of seats as the governing party goes to the presidency of the Senate. When the elected government arrives, it considers that it has the political strength to impose its rules of the game. Machiavelli said that conflicts are assumed when they are necessary, not when vanity dictates. They did not measure that neither Petrism nor Uribism liked the idea,” Medellín stated.
After the election, Both the Democratic Center and the incoming government sought to tone down the dispute, aware that they share a good part of their legislative agenda.. “We are ready to work in a harmonious, respectful and constructive manner with the new boards of directors,” wrote the designated Interior Minister, Rodrigo Lara, who had assumed the task of ensuring the election of Alfredo Deluque.
Rodrigo Lara, designated Minister of the Interior. Photo:CRISTIAN ACOSTA / Kronos
Along the same lines, the new president of the Senate ruled out that the result of the vote reflects a dispute over the leadership of the right. “We have not entered into any dispute on the right. We have a consolidated party, a majority bench, a track record”Honorio Henríquez told EL TIEMPO.
Now, political scientist Alejandro Chala has a different vision. “The Uribismo is going to sell dearly its support for the new elected government, as well as It will hit where it hurts if Abelardo De La Espriella continues in his attempt to fragment and break the Democratic Center. For now, Uribe does not give up on losing the game, nor on losing the dispute for the dominance of the new right,” he said.
Former president Álvaro Uribe and Abelardo de la Espriella. Photo:Archive
The support of Petrism
As mentioned before, Henríquez’s victory would not have been possible without the block support of the senators of the Historical Pact, a staunch enemy of the Democratic Center. The protagonists of the day and several analysts agree that it was a strictly temporary alliance, built for this vote, and not a political agreement that anticipates joint action in Congress.
“For the Pact, this temporary partnership with its historical competitor allows it to decapitalize De la Espriella and position itself as an indispensable partner. There is no programmatic convergence. There is tactical fusion”said political scientist and historian Guido Hurtado.
For Chala, the Pact demonstrated with this move that it is going to use the same veto tools that the independent parties and the opposition used against them when they were government between 2022 and 2026. “It is certain that they will seek to pressure with the majority benches that they have and articulating the green and a sector of the liberals to prevent the government from having facilities to move its legislative agenda, especially the “counter-reforms” that they have promised,” he said.
This is how the Democratic Center celebrated the election of Honorio Henríquez as president of the Senate Photo:THE TIME
A final reading of the day on July 20 suggests that the Senate once again exhibited independence from the House of Nariño. “Politically it means that the battle for the leadership of the right in Colombia will be tough between the Democratic Center and Defenders of the Homeland, beyond ideological coincidences. Institutionally, it is a clear message that in Colombia, as has happened in recent years, a balance of powers and autonomy and independence between them are consolidated, which is good news for democracy and the defense of freedoms and rights,” said former Minister of the Interior, Juan Fernando Cristo.
JUAN PABLO PENAGOS RAMÍREZ
Political Writing
