Colombia: President-elect Gustavo Petro adds support for Congress to build its majority

A week after his election as president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro adds more partisan support in the Legislature before his future government, while sectors of the right criticize the political opportunism of the new allies.

The official party of the Ucenter-right, was the most recent of the political movements to land on the presidential track by announcing on Sunday that they will be “part of the parliamentary coalition of the government elected for the election of the boards of directors of the various commissions of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies”.

The official “position” that this party will have towards the Petro government will be made official in the coming days, but it was expected that “no opposition”which would facilitate the possibilities of governability of the center left, praised by various sectors for its outstretched hand and for its proposal for a “national pact” to overcome internal division.

Former Senator Dilian Francisca Toro, president of La U, highlighted “the attitude of the elected president” As for ending the rift that Colombian society is experiencing, the coincidence in social and peace issues, the reasons why his party will not be in opposition.

more allies

“The party of the U can go back to being one of the parties of Peace. Welcome,” Petro wrote on Twitter, after the official announcement made in a public statement.

The day before, the Conservative Party (center-right), an ally of the current right-wing government of Iván Duque, announced this in a public message signed by its 39 elected deputies its “support for the legislative agenda” of the incoming governmentas long as it respects the Constitution and private property.

Juan Carlos Wills, representative in the House of the Conservative Party, assured that “today what we are showing he is a president who wants to end polarization and reach meeting points where the most important thing is the well-being of the country “and” we are willing to act and work, “he told Radio Caracol.

Wills has hinted that the position of the Conservatives it will be that of the independent party against the new government, so that they can exercise “control” and “political control”.

“Welcome to the Conservative Party in the Grand National Accord. History will be built if the Conservative Party supports the legislative initiatives of the Government of Change,” the president-elect wrote on Twitter after the Conservatives’ announcement.

On Saturday, Petro announced it its chancellor would be the conservative Alvaro Leyva Duránwho replied that he had accepted the designation and promised to “recover our place in the dignity that corresponds to us in the world and in Latin American integration,” the political leader said on Twitter.

But not all conservatives are happy with the decision of the elected congressmen, nor with the appointment of Leyva Durán.

critics

Former Conservative President Andrés Pastrana (2004-2008) described “jam arrangements (corruption, NDR) “Petro’s appeal to dialogue with political parties, while Omar Yepes, president of that party, has announced that he will resign from office, following the decision of his caucus.

“They ask me why it is recommended that the Conservative Party be in opposition. The reason is simple: because we lost the elections and why President Petro’s left-wing philosophy and electoral proposals do not fit the philosophy of our Party,” Yepes said. written on Twitter.

Paloma Valencia, Senator of the Central Democratic Party government (right), described “politicians” without “convictions” as “parasites of power”as a sign of his discontent with the announcements of support for the new government by various organizations, including allies of the Duque administration.

“The great evil of Colombia is that it has few politicians with convictions; the majority are parasites of power. They are leeches who permanently bleed the public coffers. They pass from one government to another without shame; without pains or glories; and they always leave them, ”the senator said on Twitter.

This week the Liberal Party (center) has also announced that it will support the government in Congressthe same as the Green Alliance Party (center), the Commons Party, formed by the former FARC, and the indigenous representation in the Legislature.

While former Vice-President Germán Vargas Lleras, leader of the Party of Radical Change (the center-right ruling party), has expressed his agreement with many of the initiatives for change proposed by Petro, including health care reform and tax issues.

In his Sunday column in the newspaper Timethe political leader said the “red line” with the Petro government will be in their proposals for constitutional amendment and he expressed the hope that the invitation to the national dialogue be made in an environment of “openness” and “respect” so that it can materialize.

The incoming head of state proposed to the political sectors of these currents, the business sector and civil society a dialogue to overcome problems on issues such as violence, social justice and environmental issues.

to that conversation invited former president Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010), who agreed to meet Petro, with whom he maintained a political distance for two decades, marked by complaints, accusations and personal offenses.

Source: ANSA

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