Unanimously, CNE approved the legal recognition of the Libres Party

The National Electoral Council approved a proposal by magistrate Ana Bautista, from the Pacto Histórico, recognizing Libres as a political party. The decision passed unanimously during an afternoon session. It matters because Libres can now operate formally in elections rather than remaining only a social organization linked to a community council.

Libres is the organization of representative Óscar Benavides, who holds the Afro-Colombian seat. It originated in the El Naranjo Community Council in Tumaco, Nariño. The CNE decision applies the constitutional rule that a social movement gaining congressional representation can obtain legal recognition.

The vote will become official the following day, according to the article. The CNE is expected to issue the formal resolution within two weeks. Once recognized, Libres can participate in elections, endorse candidates, and use the legal financing mechanisms available to political parties.

Legal recognition, or personería jurídica, is the constitutional status that acknowledges an organization as a political party. The article describes it as a guarantee established by the Constitution. This status matters because it connects congressional representation with the right to operate formally in Colombia’s electoral system.

The key rule appears in Article 108 of the Constitution. It says that any social movement achieving participation in Congress has the right to obtain legal recognition. Libres qualifies under this rule because its organization obtained congressional representation through Óscar Benavides, linked to the Afro-Colombian constituency.

Recognition does not simply describe the group’s identity. It gives the organization practical electoral powers, including participation in elections, candidate endorsements, and access to legal financing mechanisms. The article gives earlier examples: the CNE recognized the Partido Ecologista four years ago and ADA in 2018 after both emerged from community-based organizations.

Legal recognition changes Libres from an organization with congressional representation into a formally recognized political party. That matters because party status opens the electoral tools defined by law. The CNE’s decision therefore affects not only its name, but also how it can participate in future elections.

The article identifies three new activities. Libres may participate in elections as a political party. It may grant avales, or official party endorsements, to candidates. It may also access the financing mechanisms established by law. These powers are consequences of the personería jurídica approved by the CNE.

The recognition is scheduled to become official the next day, with a formal resolution expected within two weeks. Until then, the decision has been approved but is still moving through the official process. Once completed, Libres will have the legal framework to organize candidacies and compete electorally as a party.

The dispute concerns two seats reserved in the article’s Afro-Colombian congressional contest. The CNE awarded one to Óscar Benavides of El Naranjo and one to Winsner Sandoval of the Partido Demócrata. The second seat is disputed because the Council of State questioned whether Sandoval’s party legally qualified for it.

The Partido Demócrata received 72.241 votes. The threshold for that constituency was 78.915 votes, described as 30 percent of the electoral quotient. Because the party fell short, the Council of State temporarily suspended Sandoval’s election. The article also states that El Naranjo’s list received 159 thousand votes, the highest total in the contest.

The broader disagreement concerns how the two seats should be allocated when no list reaches the electoral quotient, which was 263 thousand votes. The CNE selected the two most-voted lists. The Council of State instead indicated that both seats should go to one list if it passes the threshold.

Libres began as an organization connected to the El Naranjo Community Council, not as a traditional party. That background matters because the case shows that legal recognition can follow representation, rather than requiring a movement to begin with a conventional party structure. The constitutional guarantee focuses on congressional participation.

Article 108 of the Constitution establishes that any social movement achieving participation in Congress has the right to obtain personería jurídica. Libres is linked to representative Óscar Benavides, who holds the Afro-Colombian seat. The CNE therefore approved recognition under the rule described in the article.

The article gives comparable precedents. Four years ago, the CNE granted recognition to the Partido Ecologista, associated with Miguel Polo Polo. In 2018, it recognized ADA, previously called the Alianza Democrática Afrocolombiana, which had emerged from the La Mamuncia Community Council. Libres follows that same constitutional path.

The second Afro-Colombian seat is contested because the Council of State found that the CNE may have violated Article 263 of the Constitution. The CNE awarded the seat to Winsner Sandoval of the Partido Demócrata, even though that party received 72.241 votes. The threshold was 78.915 votes, so the court temporarily suspended his election.

The CNE used a fallback approach. It said that if no list reached the electoral quotient, the two seats should come from the two most-voted lists, with one seat for each. No list reached the 263-thousand-vote quotient; El Naranjo’s list was highest with 159 thousand votes. This method left Anyela Guanga outside, despite receiving El Naranjo’s second-highest vote total.

The Council of State takes a different view. It says that if one list passes the threshold, both seats should go to that list. In practice, that interpretation could award the second seat to Anyela Guanga, the second-highest vote-getter on El Naranjo’s list.

The article presents two related electoral figures. The threshold is the minimum vote level that determines whether a list enters the competition. In this constituency, it was 78.915 votes, equal to 30 percent of the electoral quotient. The electoral quotient was 263 thousand votes, but no list reached it.

The CNE interpreted that situation as requiring a fallback method. Because no list reached the quotient, it selected the two most-voted lists and assigned one seat to each. El Naranjo’s list led with 159 thousand votes, while the Partido Demócrata received 72.241 votes, below the threshold, yet still received a seat under the CNE’s approach.

The Council of State disputes that interpretation. It says that when a list passes the threshold, both seats should be assigned to that same list. Applied here, that view could give El Naranjo both seats. The disagreement therefore affects both the election’s legal method and Anyela Guanga’s chance of receiving the second seat.