Colombia 2010: An analysis of the legislative and presidential elections

Abstract

The 2010 Colombian elections clearly moved the country toward a more multiparty system, characterized by the practice of post-electoral coalitions. These tendencies had been emerging since the collapse of the two-party system in the 1990s. The purpose of this article is to discuss the 2010 electoral results, with particular attention to the manner in which the referendum proposal to re-elect President Alvaro Uribe Vélez impacted the elections. We discuss the context of the elections, the electoral returns for the congressional and presidential elections, and how the results validate the hypothesis of party system transformation after the 2003 Reform.