The Constitutional Court relaunches the 16 seats of peace in Congress

The Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the guardianship filed by Roy Barreras against the board of directors of the Senate after having sunk the bill granting 16 seats in Congress to the victims of the armed conflict in Colombia. Thus, the so-called seats of peace are relaunched, which will be voted for the first time in the next legislative elections in 2022.

For the member of Congress, it is a fundamental right to comprehensive reparation for 6,670,368 people who live in the 179 most affected municipalities, “Due to the conflict, the abandonment and the weak institutional presence”.

The creation of these 16 special transitional peace constituencies will be for the House of Representatives for the periods 2022-2026 and 2026-2030, taking into account that this is a measure of satisfaction as an element of comprehensive reparation for victims. Turn it Court orders necessary adjustments to be made to electoral calendar and everything needed is available for the election on March 13, 2022.

It should be recalled that the initiative came from point 2.3.6 of the Final Peace Agreement, which states: “As part of the end of the conflict and with the aim of ensuring better integration in the areas particularly affected by conflict, neglect and weak institutional presence, and greater inclusion and political representation of these populations and their political, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, as well as as a measure of redress and consolidation of peace, the National Government undertakes to create in these zones a total of 16 special transitional peace constituencies for the election of a total of 16 representatives to the House of Representatives, temporarily and for two electoral periods ”.

“This constitutional reform constitutes a measure of positive action in favor of the territories which have suffered the most severely from the effects of the war and the abandonment of the State, so that they will have ensured a representation within of the legislative body, for a term of eight years., with which, not only the dynamism of political pluralism is guaranteed, but also the effective territorial participation in the Congress of the Republic, in particular in the House of Representatives ”, declared Roy Barreras .

The regulation of these seats was in the hands of Congress in 2017, a year after the signing of the peace agreement and a year before the legislative elections. At that time, José Obdulio Gaviria, Sofía Alejandra Gaviria, Germán Varón and Álvaro Uribe Vélez were in the chambers of the Congress, who argued against the sieges, noting that “they have no vocation to repair the victims, but rather to instrumentalize them (…) ignore their true capacity for political participation (…) and, on the contrary, to facilitate the capture of the said seats by their authors ”.

After this debate and several intense offers, the seats project collapsed in the plenary session of the Senate, during the conciliation phase, with 50 votes for its approval and 7 against, when the project had to have an absolute majority, ie 52 votes.

The seats would give victims a voice and representatives of the communities of Chocó, Cauca, Nariño, Catatumbo, Guaviare and Urabá.

As Senator Barreras explained, the seats of the peace will have special rules for the registration and election of candidates. Campaigns will benefit from special public funding and access to regional media. Special support mechanisms will be developed to ensure the transparency of the electoral process and the electorate’s freedom to vote.

Applicants can only be registered by victims’ organizations, peasant organizations or social organizations, including those of women and large groups of citizens. Community councils, Resguardos and Indigenous communities can also register candidates. when the constituency coincides with ethnic territories.

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