1970 Colombian general election

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1970 Colombian general election
Flag of Colombia.svg
  1966 19 April 1970 1974  
Presidential election
Turnout52.53%
  Misael Pastrana.JPG Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (cropped).png
Nominee Misael Pastrana Borrero Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Party Conservative Conservative
Alliance National Front ANAPO
Popular vote1,625,0251,561,468
Percentage40.69%39.09%

  Belisario Betancur 1985.jpg
Nominee Belisario Betancur Cuartas Evaristo Sourdis Juliao
Party Conservative Conservative
Popular vote471,350336,286
Percentage11.80%8.42%

Colombian Presidential Election Results, 1970.svg
Results by department
  Misael Pastrana
  Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
  Evaristo Sourdis

President before election

Carlos Lleras Restrepo
Liberal

Elected President

Misael Pastrana Borrero
Conservative

General elections were held in Colombia on 19 April 1970 to elect the president, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives. [1] It was the first time all three institutions had been elected on the same day, and was also the last election under the National Front agreement, which had restricted electoral participation to the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, with each party allocated 50% of the seats in both houses, [2] whilst the presidency alternated between the two parties. As a result, the main contest in parliamentary elections was between factions within each party, [2] whilst only Conservative candidates ran for the presidency. The result was a victory for Misael Pastrana Borrero, who received 40.7% of the vote. [3] However, supporters of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla claimed that the election had been rigged in favour of Pastrana. [3] Rojas had also been supported by the Christian Social Democratic Party. [3] The 19th of April Movement guerrillas traced their origins to this alleged fraud. [4]

Contents

Background

The 1970 elections were set to be the last of the National Front, the agreement signed by the leaders of the Conservative and Liberal parties in the aftermath of five years of military dictatorship. In the agreement, formalized by the passage of Legislative Act 1 on 15 September 1959, the two parties pledged to alternate the power of the presidency for the next three elections. From 1958, each alternating presidential election was uncontested by the other party; the previous elections had brought to power Liberal Carlos Lleras Restrepo, while 1970 was set to be the year of the Conservatives.

Misael Pastrana Borrero, a former minister and ambassador to the United States, launched his candidacy in Medellín in September 1969. A Conservative, he was eventually nominated as the National Front candidate at the national conventions of both the Conservative and Liberal parties. [5] His platform was largely a continuation of his Liberal predecessor's moderate economic and social policies, and he campaigned with the slogan "I am not a man. I am a program." [6] President Lleras actively campaigned on his behalf, violating the impartiality of the executive. [7]

Despite Pastrana's nomination by the National Front, dissident Conservatives emerged to challenge his candidacy. Belisario Betancur and Evaristo Sourdis Juliao enjoyed the support of their regional constituencies, Antioquia and the Caribbean region. [6]

The National Popular Alliance (ANAPO) was a political movement formed in 1961 by Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, a retired general who had ruled the country as military dictator from 1953 to 1957. ANAPO was a populist grouping of dissident liberals, conservatives, and leftists, united by their common rejection of the National Front coalition. Rojas previously ran as the ANAPO candidate in the 1962 elections against Guillermo León Valencia, but his candidacy was invalidated by the Supreme Court; this sentence had been overturned in 1967 and the ex-dictator again sought to return to the presidency by democratic means.

Results

President

CandidatePartyVotes%
Misael Pastrana Borrero Colombian Conservative Party 1,625,02540.69
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla National Popular Alliance 1,561,46839.09
Belisario Betancur Colombian Conservative Party 471,35011.80
Evaristo Sourdis Juliao Colombian Conservative Party 336,2868.42
Rafael CorredorIndependent110.00
Total3,994,140100.00
Valid votes3,994,14098.95
Invalid/blank votes42,3181.05
Total votes4,036,458100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,683,78552.53
Source: Nohlen

Senate

Party and factionVotes%Seats+/–
Colombian Conservative Party National Popular Alliance 1,036,65026.2326+8
Pastranistas586,13114.8318
Belisaristas294,1857.449
Sourdistas185,2064.696
Total2,102,17253.2059+6
Colombian Liberal Party Pastranistas1,074,05927.1839
National Popular Alliance 382,7779.6912+12
Sourdistas152,5063.865
Belisaristas131,4303.333
Others108,6532.750
Total1,849,42546.8059+6
Total3,951,597100.00118+12
Valid votes3,951,59799.61
Invalid/blank votes15,4090.39
Total votes3,967,006100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,666,71651.74
Source: Nohlen

Chamber of Representatives

Party and factionVotes%Seats+/–
Colombian Liberal Party Pastranistas1,051,66626.5157
National Popular Alliance 563,61414.2128+22
Sourdistas156,8773.959
Belisaristas137,0693.466
People's Liberal Revolutionary Movement34,4910.870–1
Others90,8252.295+5
Total2,034,54251.29105+3
Colombian Conservative Party National Popular Alliance 849,13821.4143+15
Pastranistas589,23414.8530
Belisaristas300,2237.5719
Sourdistas185,6864.6813
Others7,8810.200
Total1,932,16248.71105+3
Total3,966,704100.00210+6
Valid votes3,966,70499.66
Invalid/blank votes13,4970.34
Total votes3,980,201100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,666,71651.92
Source: Nohlen

Related Research Articles

The history of Colombia includes the settlements and society by indigenous peoples, most notably, the Muisca Confederation, Quimbaya Civilization, and Tairona Chiefdoms; the Spanish arrived in 1492 and initiated a period of annexation and colonization, most noteworthy being Spanish conquest; ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, with its capital at Bogotá. Independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 the "Gran Colombia" Federation was dissolved. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada. The new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation (1858), and then the United States of Colombia (1863), before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886; as well as constant political violence in the country. Panama seceded in 1903. Since the 1960s, the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict, which escalated in the 1990s, but then decreased from 2005 onward. The legacy of Colombia's history has resulted in a rich cultural heritage; while varied geography, and the imposing landscape of the country has resulted in the development of very strong regional identities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colombian Liberal Party</span> Center-left political party in Colombia

The Colombian Liberal Party is a centre to centre-left political party in Colombia. It was founded as a classical liberal party but later developed a more social-democratic tradition, joining the Socialist International in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Misael Pastrana Borrero</span> Colombian lawyer and politician (1923–1997)

Misael Eduardo Pastrana Borrero was a Colombian politician and lawyer who served as the 23rd President of Colombia from 1970 to 1974. He was also the father of the 30th President Andrés Pastrana Arango.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colombian Conservative Party</span> Right-wing political party in Colombia

The Colombian Conservative Party is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was formally established in 1849 by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez and José Eusebio Caro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustavo Rojas Pinilla</span> 19th President of Colombia (1953–1957)

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was a Colombian army general, civil engineer and politician who ruled as 19th President of Colombia in a military dictatorship from June 1953 to May 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laureano Gómez</span> 18th President of Colombia (1950–53)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colombian Military Junta</span> Colombian transitional government (1957 - 1958)

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Colombian Conservatism is a system of conservative political beliefs in Colombia that is characterized by protectionism, support of Catholic values, social stability and anti-totalitarianism. Its history began with the creation of two conservative political parties in Colombia. One characteristic of the Colombian Conservatism, in contrast to many other geographic subsets of conservatism, is its strong emphasis on protectionism, which is considered by many Colombian conservatives to be necessary to create a fair market.

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The National Popular Alliance or ANAPO was a political party in Colombia. It was founded in 1961 as a movement by the ex-president Gustavo Rojas Pinilla and was disbanded in 1998. Many ANAPO leaders and militants joined the Independent Democratic Pole coalition.

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References

  1. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p305 ISBN   978-0-19-928358-3
  2. 1 2 Nohlen, p323
  3. 1 2 3 Nohlen, p353
  4. "Colombia: The 19th of April Movement". Country Studies Series . Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. December 1988. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  5. Biografía de Misael Pastrana. Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango
  6. 1 2 Novitski, Joseph (20 April 1970). "General Rojas, Ex‐Dictator, Claims Victory in Colombia's Presidential Race". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  7. "Siglo XX en El Tiempo. Año 1970". El Tiempo. 1 December 1999. Retrieved 20 March 2021.