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Alternative Democratic Pole Polo Democrático Alternativo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President | Alexander López Maya |
| Senate leader | Iván Cepeda Castro |
| Founded | December 2005; 19 years ago (2005-12) |
| Merger of | Independent Democratic Pole Democratic Alternative |
| Headquarters | Bogotá,Colombia |
| Youth wing | Polo Jóven |
| Ideology | Social democracy[1][2] Democratic socialism Progressivism Protectionism Camilism |
| Political position | Left-wing[3][4][5][6] |
| National affiliation | Historic Pact for Colombia |
| Regional affiliation | São Paulo Forum |
| Colours | Yellow |
| Chamber of Representatives | 9 / 188 |
| Senate | 6 / 108 |
| Website | |
| www.polodemocratico.net | |
TheAlternative Democratic Pole (Spanish:Polo Democrático Alternativo orPDA) is aleft-wing,democratic socialist andcamilist[7]political party in Colombia,[8] active from 2005 to the present. In 2022 it was successful at the polls and formed the Government of Colombia.
It was founded as a political alliance of theIndependent Democratic Pole (PDI) and the Democratic Alternative (AD) in December 2005. Both parties opposed the neoliberal economic program, securitization and militarization of Colombia under then-PresidentÁlvaro Uribe.[6] Subsequently, it was the only parliamentary party to declare opposition to the government ofJuan Manuel Santos, and then joined the opposition against the government ofIvan Duque.
As of 2009, a considerable number of PDA politicians were still former guerrilla fighters who gave up armed struggle and demobilized during the late 1980s and early 1990s.[9] And by 2012, a considerable part of PDA politicians including the former guerrilla fighters were more aligned with theGreen Party,[10] theMovimiento Progresistas,[11] orMarcha Patriótica,[12] than the PDA.
The PDI and AD initially had their own pre-candidates for the 2006 presidential race. PDI had nominatedAntonio Navarro (former leader ofM-19) and AD had nominatedCarlos Gaviria.
In a primary election held on March 12, 2006, Gaviria won the presidential nomination of the PDA.
In the simultaneouslegislative elections of 2006, the party won 9 out of 166 Deputies and 11 out of 100 senators.
At thepresidential elections of 28 May 2006,Carlos Gaviria came second with 22.04% of the vote, 2,613,157 votes.[13] This was the highest ever result for a left-wing candidate in Colombia's history.[8] Thus, the party replaced the long-standing Liberal Party as the country's second force and main opposition party.[4]
After the election, the PDA was successful in gaining the support of groups representing the indigenous movement affiliated with the coalition.[3] The guerrilla groupNational Liberation Army (ELN) (at its fourth national congress) commented favorably on the PDA's electoral performance and declared that political action should take precedence over armed struggle.[14] PDA's own founding doctrine repudiates armed guerilla politics: "We oppose war and the exercise of violence as means of political action".[15]
Later the PDA further consolidated its organization and gained support on a local level.[16] In October 2007, the PDA's candidate,Samuel Moreno Rojas won the mayoral election in Colombia's capitalBogotá.[17]
In the2010 congressional election, PDA's support declined. It won 7.8% of votes and 8 of 100 seats in the Senate, and 5.9% of the vote and 4 of 164 seats in the House of Representatives, demoting it to the sixth rank among parliamentary parties. Before the election, a faction of the PDA had split off and joined theGreen Party.[18]
Clara Lopez was the party's candidate for the2014 presidential election;[19][20] she placed fourth in the first round of the election, receiving 1,958,414 votes, representing 15.23%.[21]
For the2022 presidential andparliamentary election, the party joined forces with other left-wing and centre-left parties to form theHistoric Pact for Colombia (Spanish PHxC) alliance, whose candidatesGustavo Petro and PDA memberFrancia Márquez, were victorious in the second round of the presidential election, making them the first leftists to assume the Presidency and Vice-Presidency in Colombian history. In the parliamentary elections, PHxC candidates, including PDA members, won the most votes in both the Chamber of Representatives and Senatorial elections; in both chambers seats are awarded byproportional representation.
| Election year | Candidate | # votes | % vote | Result | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Carlos Gaviria Díaz | 2,609,412 | 22.04% (2nd) |  N Defeated | |
| 2010 | Gustavo Petro | 1,331,267 | 9.14% (4th) | N Defeated | |
| 2014 | Clara López Obregón | 1,958,414 | 15.23% (4th) | N Defeated | |
| 2018 | Sergio Fajardo | 4,602,916 | 23.78% (3rd) | N Defeated | |
| 2022 | Gustavo Petro | 11,291,986 | 50.44% (1st) |  Y Winner | coalition withHistoric Pact for Colombia |
| Election Year | House of Representatives | Senate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Percentage | Seats | Votes | Percentage | Seats | |
| 2006 | 677,964 | 7,66 (#5) | 7 / 166 | 563,060 | 9,71 (#5) | 10 / 102 |
| 2010 | 563,555 | 5,86 (#6) | 5 / 166 | 824,948 | 7,82 (#6) | 8 / 102 |
| 2014 | 414,346 | 3,8 (#10) | 3 / 166 | 541,145 | 3,78 (#7) | 5 / 102 |
| 2018 | 416,766 | 3,0 (#7) | 2 / 166 | 736,367 | 4,80 (#7) | 5 / 102 |
| 2022 | WithHistoric Pact for Colombia | WithHistoric Pact for Colombia | ||||
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