Electoral Council officially names new senators

Colombia’s National Electoral Council officially presented the list of 102 senators who will take their seats when the legislative body opens for its first session Tuesday.

The new Senate will be comprised of 28 senators from Partido de la U, the “Uribista” party which represents continuity with the policies of outgoing President Alvaro Uribe and is led by President-elect Juan Manuel Santos.

The Conservative Party has 22 seats in the Senate, the Liberal Party has seventeen, scandal-hit party PIN has nine, Cambio Radical and Polo Democratico both have eight, and Movimiento MIRA has three.

The announcement of the 102 senators follows intense criticism that – due to numerous procedural irregularities in the March 14 congressional elections, which led many departments to demand a recount of votes – many of the seats had not been confirmed just days before the new Congress was scheduled to convene for the first time.

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