Through legislative act 03 of 2019, article 323 of the Constitution was modified. The new norm establishes that the mayor mayor will be elected for a period of four years, by 40 percent of the votes that, secretly and directly, deposited by citizens with the formalities determined by law, provided that it exceeds the second candidate. most voted by 10 percentage points.
Now, if no candidate obtains said majority, a new vote will be held that will take place three weeks later, in which only the two candidates who have obtained the highest votes will participate. The mayor who obtains the highest number of votes in the second round will be declared.
Under this premise, EL NUEVO SIGLO spoke with councilors from the Alianza Verde, Partido Liberal, Centro Democrático, Cambio Radical, Colombia Humana, Polo Democrático, Nuevo Liberalismo, Colombia Justa Libres and Conservative Party benches about the impact that the mayoral campaign will have , the fact that there is a first and a second round. This answers each:
Edward Arias, president of the Bogotá Council and Alianza Verde councilor, pointed out that from the Corporation it is most probable that each bank will support their candidate so that they go to the second round.
However, according to Arias’ analysis, this time the second round will cause the majority of councilors to unite around a candidate, support him and generate strength towards what comes in the next government between the Administration and the Council of Bogota.
“This is what is going to allow, it really is a majority decision in the mayoral election. We have had a line of left, right and center. What the same division of having so many candidates has done is that the greatest tendency is not necessarily the one that remains in the Mayor’s Office. On this occasion, since there are only two candidates and two tendencies, I think that Bogotá will have a greater chance that the tendency that the citizens want the most is the one that ends up electing the new mayor,” he said.
Councilor Samir Abisambra affirmed that the impact of the second electoral round will be positive.
“Any candidate who does not have a majority will not win the elections. In the last elections in Bogotá, the mayors have been left with no more than 30% of the election, in the last one we saw how the current mayor got 90,000 more votes than the second in the race and that, obviously, does not impact the majority of the citizens. I see positively that we have a second round so that the majorities decide who is going to govern the city, ”she explained.
Councilor Diana Diago maintained that the second electoral round could favor governability and moderate the discourse.
“The idea of the second round is that the candidates are forced to develop proposals and a government program that is closer to the citizenry and that really represents a large number of citizens. However, this mechanism will also force the parties and candidates to form coalitions for the second round, which may well favor governability and moderate the discourse or will serve to consolidate the jam and the political structures, even from before the election,” said the lobbyist.
Councilor Samuel Arrieta asserted that the fact that for the first time there is a second round in the Mayor Mayor election, in the event that no candidate reaches 40% of the valid votes, positively impacts the choice of this figure.
“This will provide the new mayor or mayoress with greater legitimacy, will allow policies of programmatic alliances between the first two in voting and the rest of the candidates. If we take into account that in the last elections no elected candidate has reached more than 30%, this second round will allow us to have a mayor with greater popular acceptance and strengthen the capital’s democracy. Which in my opinion means that if you get 40% and the second 31% you must also do a second round, ”she said.
Councilman José Cuesta affirmed that a second round in Bogotá is the creation of a scenario for the realignment of political forces of the ‘cachaco establishment’, with the aim of defeating the progressive political project.
“The second round in Bogotá is a reality and will be launched in the elections for the Mayor’s Office, to be held on October 29. In such a way that a solid and comprehensive strategy to recover Bogotá must necessarily include a broad policy of alliances that allows us to achieve the return of a democratic proposal in the direction of the government from the Liévano palace ”, he explained.
Councilor Celio Nieves maintained that the decision of the second round for the Mayor’s Office obeys a law established by the Republic to gradually eliminate the participation and presence of alternative democratic and left-wing mayors.
“Bogotá is where the second most important post in Colombia after the President of the Republic is elected. It means that there is an interest there from the financial, economic sectors and, of course, from the parties, mainly from the Bogota right and the Colombian right”, he asserted.
Councilwoman Marisol Gómez stated that this change is radical and that it will generate alliances never before thought of.
“In this specific case, what the councilors also want is power, so it will result in that there will be alliances never thought of like the ones we are seeing, for example, today between the Petro government and people from the U Party, from the Conservative, of the Liberal Party. It seems to me that the second round is very complex for the final result and it doesn’t matter who they make alliances with, the important thing is to stay in the power group, ”he said.
For his part, councilor Juan Baena explained that the second round will generate many effects.
“We are going to have a more scattered first-round vote, we are going to have many more mayoral candidates than before and then a game of alliances is going to begin to be formed, of coalitions of people who come and go for one or another campaign. Consequently, surely there will be a political game of negotiation and a second round where alliances begin to be added, ”he indicated.
Councilor Marco Acosta explained that the main affectation of the second round corresponds to the largest number of motivated candidates to be counted and support an applicant in the second round.
“This also lengthens the campaign in Bogotá, that is, three more weeks of campaigning, which extends the period of the Guarantees Law and generates greater efforts in the city’s political organizations. On the other hand, it is evident that everything will end up being decided in the second round in which the city councilors are going to be quite incidental. It is the first time that the Council has the capacity to influence the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá”, he explained.
Finally, councilor Gloria Díaz stated that the second round is a way of guaranteeing that the mayor or mayor who becomes elected has a representative number of citizens who support their government program and not that a mayor arrives with very low percentages. to govern and occupy the second most important position in the country.