Colombia’s congressional election Sunday proved a modest setback for President Juan Manuel Santos. A new party loyal to former President Alvaro Uribe, a conservative populist and vocal critic of Santos, made a reasonably strong showing, though without securing enough seats to either pass or block legislation. Santos may now find it more difficult to move legislation forward, but his agenda as a whole will survive.
Uribe, now Colombia’s most prominent new senator, served as president from 2002 to 2010, and is popular for having overseen a military buildup and offensive that weakened the country’s large leftist guerrilla groups and sharply reduced violent crime. He broke with Santos, his successor and former defense minister, over a number of issues, including Santos’ softer line on Venezuela, ministerial nominations, land restitution efforts and especially his 2012 decision to negotiate peace with leftist guerrillas.
After years of venting anger at Santos on Twitter, Uribe created a new political party, the Pure Democratic Center—though its members are all well to the right of the political center. He led the party’s list of Senate candidates.