Colombia’s traditional parties on the center right face growing internal rebellions ahead of the 2026 elections.
The party leaders punished several Senators and threatened disciplinary measures in an attempt to maintain authority and cohesion.
Congressmen of the Liberal Party, Conservative Party, U Party, and Cambio Radical have been openly defying the bosses of their political machines.
This internal opposition is complicating the bosses’ plans to enter the election as a center-right coalition.
In the Liberal Party, a left-wing faction has been clashing with party director Cesar Gaviria over his opposition to the government of Gustavo Petro for years.
While Gaviria wants to be with the center-right coalition in opposition to the left, the dissident faction claims to be “firm with Gustavo Petro,” and has expressed support for the candidacy of Carolina Corcho, Petro’s former health minister.
Cambio Radical pressed fraud charges against Senator Ana Maria Castañeda after she disobeyed orders of party leader German Vargas and voted against the election of Carlos Camargo to the Constitutional Court.
The party previously suspended Castañeda and her colleague Senator Temistocles Ortega for refusing to vote against a referendum on a labor reform promoted by the government.
Fifteen House representatives of the U Party clashed with their party leadership in June already, because the directors decided to revoke their confidence in the Government’s ability to organize the 2026 elections.
We believe that these actions, taken without consultation, violate the democratic principles that govern our party and affect the unity and coherence of our caucus in Congress. Therefore, we categorically reject decisions that do not emanate from the democratic consensus within the U Party.
Signatories of the U Party
Over the weekend, representatives of the party told newspaper El Espectador that the party’s leader, Dilian Francisca Toro, lost political clout.
Her power is weak. Dilian lost it. We respect and like her, but people aren’t stupid, and they know how politics work; today, she has no chance of even naming a governor in 2027.
Anonymous U Party representative
The Conservative Party’s leadership is preparing sanctions against representatives who obtained key positions in the administration for their support for the government’s legislative agenda.
The party’s president, Senator Efrain Cepeda, announced that he knew “how to defeat Petro” and win the 2026 presidential elections.
The internal strifes complicate the party bosses’ plans to enter the elections as an anti-left coalition.
