The Colombian left has closed ranks to defend the holding of the consultation in which the candidate from that sector for the presidency of the Republic and the lists for the Senate and the House of Representatives will be chosen. They have done so after this Tuesday afternoon the Superior Court of Bogotá put the electoral process at risk by repealing the precautionary measures of a guardianship that had allowed the registration of Iván Cepeda, Daniel Quintero and Carolina Corcho by the Historical Pact. In the same tone that President Gustavo Petro has done in the past, and which has earned him much criticism, the left has accused that the court’s decision is politically motivated by the right.
The decision undoubtedly raised several legal doubts about the legal possibility of the consultation on October 26, which have yet to be defined, but at the same time it generated the unity of all sectors of progressivism that want to participate in the contest as a single force. The three candidates, who met with President Petro after the news, put aside their differences to concentrate their energies on carrying out the consultation. Upon leaving the meeting at the Casa de Nariño, President Petro wrote on his X account a message of tranquility for his bases: “The popular consultation on the Historical Pact is in force.”
The president’s message takes up a statement from the pre-candidate Quintero in which he assures that the national registrar, Hernán Penagos, informed them that the internal consultation to elect the sole candidate of the Historical Pact is firm. “God is with the people. And the people are with the Historical Pact. The Registry Office has just confirmed that on October 26 there will be a consultation on the Historical Pact. Another failed attempt by the right to overthrow the consultation,” said the former mayor of Medellín in a video before meeting with the president.
Former senator Gustavo Bolívar, who renounced his candidacy to support Iván Cepeda and who has criticized Quintero throughout the campaign, also dismissed the questions and agreed on the urgency of unity: “The consultation of the Historical Pact is going on because it is going. Democracy is unapproachable. Whoever tries to stop it sets back the course of humanity and history itself,” he wrote on his social networks.
Iván Cepeda and Carolina Corcho expressed themselves in the same sense. The senator from the Democratic Pole denounced that the court’s decision, which was already appealed by different political leaders of the left, was a new attempt to obstruct the democratic process. “The right wants to avoid, at all costs, the unity of the Historical Pact and also the consultation for the election of our candidates for the Presidency and Congress of the Republic. They fear the electoral mobilization that our great political force is producing. The purpose is to introduce confusion in public opinion and try to divide the Pact. They will not succeed,” Cepeda wrote in his X account. Corcho, for his part, insisted that the judicial decision is an impetus to continue in the campaign: “The denial of guardianship does not stop us, on the contrary, it drives us to continue.”
Senator María José Pizarro also joined the voices defending the consultation. “New attempt to prevent the political participation of the Historical Pact and to stop progressive unity. We forcefully tell the country: we are going to find the necessary legal routes to guarantee political participation, unblock the recognition of legal status and allow the consultations to take place with full legitimacy on October 26,” he said in a video broadcast on his social networks.
Although it is still not known with certainty what the legal effects of the court’s decision will be, with the passing of the hours the political consequences have become clear: the president once again found in justice an enemy who opposes his project and helps him consolidate the support of his followers. Upon learning the news, Petro published a message of rejection: “The Superior Court of Bogotá carried out a premeditated political coup against Democracy,” he said. And he added: “They do not want to compete for the vote, but for the trick. The constitution orders that it is a fundamental right for citizens to form parties.”
In another message, shared by thousands of followers, he went further: “We are facing an attempt by the right to prevent the Historical Pact from acting in the legal political life of Colombia. This is a sabotage of democracy. They are dictators who prevent the Constitution from being applied.” The opposition, for its part, questioned the left’s insistence on the consultation. Gabriel Vallejo, director of the Democratic Center party, wrote on his X account: “Be careful. Petro and his neo-communist project are looking for excuses not to hold elections. The Historical Pact was fully aware that such a consultation could not be held.”
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