Congress of Colombia

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Congress of the Republic of Colombia
Congreso de la República de Colombia
Coat of arms of Colombia.svg
Type
Type
Houses House of Representatives
Senate
Leadership
Luis Fernando Velasco (L)
Since 20 July 2015 (2015-07-20)
President of the House of Representatives
Alfredo Rafael Deluque (PSUN)
Since 20 July 2015 (2015-07-20)
Structure
Seats 268 consisting of:
102 Senators
166 Representatives
CamaraDeRepColombia20142018.png
House of Representatives political groups
 Government (97)
  •      C (27)
  •      L (39)
  •      PSUN (37)
  •      CR (16)
  •      OC (5)

Opposition (22)

  •      CD (19)
  •      PDA (3)

Independent (46)
Meeting place
CapitolioNacionalDeColombia2004-7.jpg
Capitolio Nacional, Bogotá
Website
www.camara.gov.co
www.senado.gov.co

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The Congress of the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: Congreso de la República de Colombia) is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature.

The Congress of Colombia consists of the 102-seat Senate (Senado), and the 166-seat House of Representatives (Cámara de Representantes). Members of both houses are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The Congress meets twice a year in two ordinary sessions: The first from July 20 to December 16, and the second from March 16 to June 20. The Executive branch can call for extraordinary sessions at any time, but never after June 20 in an election year. Every year on July 20 the congress also internally elects the President of Congress.

Both houses of Congress meet at the neoclassical Capitolio Nacional ("National Capitol") building in central Bogotá, the construction of which began in 1847 and was not concluded until 1926. Every house has its own election procedure and individual powers that make them different from each other, which are further discussed in the article for each individual chamber.

Senate

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Main article: Senate of Colombia

The Senate has 102 elected members for four-year terms.

How the Senate is elected

According to the Colombian Constitution, 100 senators (senador(es)) are elected from a single national candidate list. The remaining two are elected from a special list set aside for Indigenous peoples communities. Senators can be elected by Colombian citizens abroad.

Requirements

To be a senator, a person must be a natural-born Colombian citizen who has attained the age of 30 years at the moment of election.

Exclusive powers of the Senate

  1. Approve or reject the resignations of both the President and the Vice-President.
  2. Approve or reject all military rank promotion at all grades.
  3. Grant leaves of absence for the President in cases other than sickness, and determine whether the reasons for the leave are worthy.
  4. Allow for the transit of foreign troops through Colombian territory.
  5. Authorize the Government to declare war on a foreign nation.
  6. Elect the Constitutional Court justices.
  7. Elect the Inspector General.[1]

The House

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Main article: House of Representatives of Colombia

The House has 166 elected members for four-year terms.

How the House is elected

According to the Colombian Constitution, every department is an electoral circumscription. There are also four special circumscriptions: One for Indian communities, one for Afro-Colombian communities (negritudes), one for other minorities and one for Colombian citizens abroad, which have become lately a coveted political group. There will be two representatives for each territorial circumscription, and every territorial circumscription will elect an additional member for every 250,000 residents or fraction greater than 125,000 residents in excess of the first 250,000 residents. The Afro-Colombian circunscription elects two representatives, and the Indian, other minority and expatriate circumscriptions elect one each.

Requirements

To be a representative, a person must be a Colombian citizen (regardless the place of birth) who has attained the age of 25 years at the moment of election.

Exclusive powers of the House

  1. Elect the Ombudsman of Colombia.
  2. Examine the general account budget and treasury budget submitted by the Comtroller General of Colombia
  3. Indict for the impeachment of the following officeholders: President, Constitutional Court justices, Supreme Court justices, Superior Council of judiciary members, Council of State justices and the Attorney General.
  4. Listen to the complaints stated by the Attorney General or private citizens against the aforementioned officers, and recommend impeachment if they're worthwhile.
  5. Request the aid of other authorities to pursue the investigations.

Peace Talks

On 14 June 2012,Colombian congress passed a law that could pave the way for peace talks with leftist guerrillas, raising hopes for an end to the war.But the critics have criticised the law by callig it too lenient.[2]

Images

Latest election

Colombian parliamentary election, 2014

See also

References

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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