De la Espriella’s Defenders of the Homeland Movement Is Now a Political Party
The National Electoral Council (CNE) granted legal status this Monday, Aug. 3, to the Defenders of the Homeland Movement, meaning official recognition by the state allowing it to formally operate as a political party. It is the political movement through which Abelardo de la Espriella ran as a presidential candidate and won.
This political development not only represents another immediate victory for Colombia‘s president-elect, who will take office next Aug. 7. He can now begin thinking about expanding his power and influence in the country’s political life through the opportunities that come with being the leader of a party officially recognized by Colombia’s electoral authority.
Of the nine magistrates who make up the CNE, six voted in favor of granting legal status to De la Espriella’s movement and one voted against. Two others, Fabiola Marquez and Altus Baquero, attended neither the session nor the vote.
CNE recognized popular support for De la Espriella’s movement
The proposal under debate had concluded that the Defenders of the Homeland Movement met all legal requirements. Among them was the vote obtained in the second round of the presidential election on June 21, in which De la Espriella defeated government-backed candidate Ivan Cepeda with 12,959,542 votes and won the Presidency of Colombia.
In that election, De la Espriella prevailed after first qualifying through the collection of signatures, although he later also received the endorsement of the right-wing National Salvation party.
For CNE, that overwhelming vote reflects the popular support obtained by De la Espriella’s movement. A similar situation occurred after the 2022 elections with Colombia Humana, of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, and the League of Anti-Corruption Governors, led by his former opponent Rodolfo Hernandez. Both movements were granted legal status based on their electoral results.
In this way, De la Espriella will begin his term next Thursday in Cali with his own political party, which, according to CNE, will be headed by Camilo Andres Noguera Abello.
However, the CNE’s decision will have broader political implications for De la Espriella and for the country. First, because it will allow his party to endorse candidates in Colombia’s upcoming elections.
Among them are the elections scheduled for Oct. 27, 2027, when governors, mayors, departmental assembly members, municipal council members, and Local Administrative Board (JAL) members will be elected for the 2028-2031 term.
Also scheduled are the March 2030 legislative elections, when De la Espriella will be entering the final stretch of his presidency. At that time, Colombians will elect new members of the Senate and the House of Representatives for the following four-year term.
Finally, De la Espriella’s party could also field its own presidential candidate, or one in coalition, to succeed him. The first and second rounds of the presidential election to choose the president and vice president of the Republic will be held in May and June, respectively.
Defenders of the Homeland unsettles Uribismo
It is a process similar to the one followed by the Historic Pact, first as a coalition that brought Petro to power and later, after being recognized as a political party, attempted to carry its candidate, Ivan Cepeda, to the presidency.
The recognition of the Defenders of the Homeland Movement as a political party has other consequences that are already being felt within what has until now been Colombia’s main right-wing party, the Democratic Center, founded and led by former President Alvaro Uribe Velez.
That political party is now watching the new party compete for its supporters, especially those seeking an ultra-right alternative. There are even strong internal tensions within the Democratic Center over its own identity.
In recent hours, former senator and former presidential candidate for that party, Paloma Valencia, said during a meeting in Antioquia: “We have to understand very clearly what party we are in. This is not a right-wing party.”
Other figures from the Democratic Center, including former senator Maria Fernanda Cabal, Senator Andres Forero, and House Representative Daniel Briceno, immediately criticized Valencia.
“The Democratic Center is facing an ideological crisis that it can no longer hide,” Cabal said. “While some of its leaders say they are right-wing, some of its spokespeople insist on presenting it as a centrist party.”
Briceno commented: “The formula of denying the right and trying to move toward the center has already failed.” And Forero said: “I like Hayek and Adam Smith. I am convinced that concern for those most in need is not the exclusive domain of the left, and I am not going to leave the Democratic Center, a party I helped found and of which I am proud.”
De la Espriella’s new party promises to inject new dynamism into Colombian politics, also shaped by the unprecedented vote obtained by the left in the most recent elections.