In the election for the presidency of the Colombian Senate, De la Espriella suffers his first political defeat

The elected president of Colombia, Abelardo De la Espriella, suffered his first political defeat in the Colombian Congress on Monday (20).

Abelardo had nominated Alfredo Deluque for the presidency of the Senate. But, without a majority in the House, he saw Senator Honorio Henríquez, from the Democratic Center, being elected to the position.

Henríquez obtained 56 votes, surpassing the 45 obtained by Deluque. Linked to former president Álvaro Uribe, he belongs to a political group that has already shown support for Abelardo’s government program. The elected president of the Senate will hold the position until 2030.

Despite the presidency, the Historic Pact, a left-wing party currently led by Gustavo Petro, will be the largest bloc in the House, with 68 parliamentarians, against 47 members of the Democratic Center. This year, the Senate renewed 40% of positions.

In the Chamber, which also held a vote, Nicolás Barguil, from the Conservative party, was elected with 180 votes.

De la Espriella’s reaction

Shortly after the vote, the future president of Colombia took to social media to say that he respects the autonomy of the Senate, but recalled that he did not contact any congressman to request votes or offer positions.

“I am not a traditional politician. I am here to carry out great politics: to serve Colombia with transparency, respect for institutions and absolute commitment to the country”, wrote De la Espriella.

Henríquez already mentioned the existence of a “point of convergence” between the right-wing and left-wing blocs in the Colombian Legislature, recalling the support that part of the Historic Pact provided for his name.

Ivan Cepeda, defeated by De la Espriella in the June election, also commented on the result. “First defeat for De la Espriella”, wrote the senator on the social network X.

Meanwhile, President Gustavo Petro, who leaves power on August 7, took legal action to annul the result of the presidential election. According to Petro, “digital witnesses” were able to reveal that the metadata of the documents sent by the electoral ballot software pointed to an algorithmic manipulation of the result.