Colombia Votes in Legislative Elections

Colombians voted on Sunday in legislative elections that will shape the final months of left-wing President Gustavo Petro's term and test whether the once-powerful right wing is poised for a political comeback. About 40 million voters are electing nearly 300 lawmakers, deciding the makeup of Congress and providing a key temperature check weeks before a May presidential election.

Voting stations closed at 4pm, and counting has begun, with results expected in several hours. The new Congress will determine if Petro can push ahead with last-minute efforts to rewrite the constitution, a move critics say would weaken checks on presidential power. Colombia's decades of brutal internecine fighting and the presence of still-powerful cocaine mafias have cast a long shadow over the campaign.

More than 60 political figures and community leaders were killed in 2025, including a presidential candidate who was assassinated in broad daylight in the capital, Bogotá. Rebels also detonated a pipe bomb in a major city, and a third of the country was deemed unsafe for campaigning.

The most recent Congress approved some of Petro's reforms but rejected others, like overhauling the health care system or changing the tax code to bring in more revenue. Petro has been critical of the legislature, which has lost respect among many Colombians due to corruption scandals.

Colombia is also trying to emerge from 50 years of fighting spawned by a volatile mix of leftist rebels, paramilitaries, and drug lords. Much of the violence has been fueled by the cocaine trade. The elections took place without significant incidents of violence, despite isolated reports of attempted vote buying.

Preliminary results showed that neither the leftist ruling party nor the main opposition party secured a majority, highlighting the fragmented nature of Colombia’s political landscape. Analysts predicted the vote would be divided among some two dozen parties, likely forcing the next president to form a coalition government.