Colombian presidential election, 1958

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Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 4 May 1958. [1] They were the first presidential elections since 1949, following a military coup against President Laureano Gómez in 1953. [2] Following the coup, the two main parties (the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party) came to an agreement on holding office for alternating periods of four years. The agreement, known as the National Front, was approved in a 1957 referendum. [2]

Colombia Country in South America

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a sovereign state largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and Peru. It shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Colombia is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, with the capital in Bogota.

Laureano Gómez President of Colombia

Laureano Eleuterio Gómez Castro is a Colombian politician and civil engineer who served the 18th President of Colombia from 1950 to 1953. In November 1951 poor health led him to cede presidential power to Roberto Urdaneta Arbelaez. On 13 June 1953, when he tried to resume his presidency, he was overthrown in a military coup led by Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. During the three decades prior to being elected president, Gómez was a radical leader of the Conservative Party, widely considered to be one of the most potent orators of the Congress of Colombia. He is a controversial personality, because of his sympathy for fascism and the dictatorial nature of his government.

The election resulted in a victory for Alberto Lleras Camargo of the Liberal Party (and also supported by the Colombian Communist Party), who received 80% of the vote. Although the Conservatives had agreed to let the Liberal Party hold power during the 1958–1962 period, dissidents in the Conservative Party put forward Jorge Leyva as a candidate. [3]

Alberto Lleras Camargo Colombian journalist and politician

Alberto Lleras Camargo was the 20th President of Colombia (1958–1962), and the 1st Secretary General of the Organization of American States (1948–1954). A journalist and liberal party politician, he also served as Minister of Government, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and as Minister of National Education in the administrations of President Alfonso López Pumarejo. He briefly attended the National University of Colombia in Bogotá to study politics, but dropped out later to pursue journalism.

Colombian Communist Party Marxist Leninist Party

The Colombian Communist Party or PCC is a legal communist party in Colombia. It was founded in 1930 as the Communist Party of Colombia, at which point it was the Colombian section of the Comintern, and changed its name in 1991. The party is currently led by Jaime Caycedo and publishes a weekly newspaper called Voz.

Results

CandidatePartyVotes%
Alberto Lleras Camargo Liberal Party 2,482,94880.1
Jorge Leyva Conservative Party 614,86119.8
Others2900.0
Invalid/blank votes10,468–
Total3,108,567100
Registered voters/turnout5,386,98157.7
Source: Nohlen

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1964 Colombian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Colombia on 15 March 1964 to elect the Chamber of Representatives. Under the National Front agreement, only the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party were able to contest the elections, with 50% of the seats in both houses allocated to each party. As a result, the main contest at the elections was between factions within each party.

1966 Colombian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Colombia on 20 March 1966 to elect the Senate and Chamber of Representatives. Under the National Front agreement,only the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party were allowed to contest the elections, with each party allocated 50% of the seats in both houses. As a result, the main contest at the elections was between factions within each party.

1970 Colombian general election

General elections were held in Colombia on 19 April 1970 to elect the President, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives. 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, whilst the Presidency alternated between the two parties. As a result, the main contest in parliamentary elections was between factions within each party, whilst only Conservative candidates ran for the presidency. The result was a victory for Misael Pastrana Borrero, who received 40.7% of the vote. However, supporters of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla claimed that the election had been rigged in favour of Pastrana. Rojas had also been supported by the Christian Social Democratic Party. The 19th of April Movement guerrillas traced their origins to this alleged fraud.

1974 Colombian general election

General elections were held in Colombia on 21 April 1974 to elect the President, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives. They were the first elections after the end of 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, whilst the Presidency alternated between the two parties.

References

  1. ↑ Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p305 ISBN   978-0-19-928358-3
  2. 1 2 Nohlen, p296
  3. ↑ Nohlen, p352
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