Parliamentary elections were held in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

on 9 March 2014 to elect members to both chambers of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

. The nationwide constituency for the 102-member

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

was contested, as well as the 166 seats of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, plus the delegates to the

Andean Parliament The Andean Parliament is the governing and deliberative body of the Andean Community. It was created on October 25, 1979, in La Paz (Bolivia), through the Constitutive Treaty signed by the chancellors of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venez ...

. There were 773 candidates for the Senate, 1,528 candidates for the House of Representatives, and 23 candidates for the five Colombian seats in the Andean Parliament. 32,795,962 Colombians had been registered to vote in the elections by the cut-off date of 25 January 2014. The elections were notable for the decision by former president

Álvaro Uribe Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010. Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia. He held offices in t ...

to stand for the Senate, the first ex-president in modern Colombian history to run for Congress afterwards. Uribe is constitutionally barred from standing for president again, having already served two terms.

Electoral system

Both senators and representatives are elected to four-year terms however the electoral system differs. The electoral system used for the Senate is a one national constituency to elect 100 members by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

whilst the remaining 2 Senators are reserved for Indigenous Colombians, who have a separate ballot. The House of Representatives uses proportional representation with the departments serving as constituencies, each electing from between 2 and 18 members.

Electoral system

Opinion polls

Results

Senate

Chamber of Representatives

See also

References