1970 Colombian general election

1970 Colombian general election

19 April 1970
Presidential election
Turnout	52.53%
Nominee Misael Pastrana Borrero Gustavo Rojas Pinilla Party Conservative Conservative Alliance National Front ANAPO Popular vote 1,625,025 1,561,468 Percentage 40.69% 39.09%   Nominee Belisario Betancur Cuartas Evaristo Sourdis Juliao Party Conservative Conservative Popular vote 471,350 336,286 Percentage 11.80% 8.42%
Results by department   Misael Pastrana   Gustavo Rojas Pinilla   Evaristo Sourdis
President before election Carlos Lleras Restrepo Liberal Elected President Misael Pastrana Borrero Conservative

General elections were held in Colombia on 19 April 1970 to elect the president, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives. It was the first time all three institutions had been elected on the same day, and was also the last election under the National Front agreement, which had restricted electoral participation to the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, with each party allocated 50% of the seats in both houses, whilst the presidency alternated between the two parties. As a result, the main contest in parliamentary elections was between factions within each party, whilst only Conservative candidates ran for the presidency. The result was a victory for Misael Pastrana Borrero, who received 40.7% of the vote. However, supporters of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla claimed that the election had been rigged in favour of Pastrana. Rojas had also been supported by the Christian Social Democratic Party. The 19th of April Movement guerrillas traced their origins to this alleged fraud.

Background

The 1970 elections were set to be the last of the National Front, the agreement signed by the leaders of the Conservative and Liberal parties in the aftermath of five years of military dictatorship. In the agreement, formalized by the passage of Legislative Act 1 on 15 September 1959, the two parties pledged to alternate the power of the presidency for the next three elections. From 1958, each alternating presidential election was uncontested by the other party; the previous elections had brought to power Liberal Carlos Lleras Restrepo, while 1970 was set to be the year of the Conservatives.

Misael Pastrana Borrero, a former minister and ambassador to the United States, launched his candidacy in Medellín in September 1969. A Conservative, he was eventually nominated as the National Front candidate at the national conventions of both the Conservative and Liberal parties. His platform was largely a continuation of his Liberal predecessor's moderate economic and social policies, and he campaigned with the slogan "I am not a man. I am a program." President Lleras actively campaigned on his behalf, violating the impartiality of the executive.

Despite Pastrana's nomination by the National Front, dissident Conservatives emerged to challenge his candidacy. Belisario Betancur and Evaristo Sourdis Juliao enjoyed the support of their regional constituencies, Antioquia and the Caribbean region.

The National Popular Alliance (ANAPO) was a political movement formed in 1961 by Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, a retired general who had ruled the country as military dictator from 1953 to 1957. ANAPO was a populist grouping of dissident liberals, conservatives, and leftists, united by their common rejection of the National Front coalition. Rojas previously ran as the ANAPO candidate in the 1962 elections against Guillermo León Valencia, but his candidacy was invalidated by the Supreme Court; this sentence had been overturned in 1967 and the ex-dictator again sought to return to the presidency by democratic means.

Results

President

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Misael Pastrana Borrero	Colombian Conservative Party	1,625,025	40.69
	Gustavo Rojas Pinilla	National Popular Alliance	1,561,468	39.09
	Belisario Betancur	Colombian Conservative Party	471,350	11.80
	Evaristo Sourdis Juliao	Colombian Conservative Party	336,286	8.42
	Rafael Corredor	Independent	11	0.00
Total			3,994,140	100.00
Valid votes			3,994,140	98.95
Invalid/blank votes			42,318	1.05
Total votes			4,036,458	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			7,683,785	52.53
Source: Nohlen

Senate

Party and faction				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Colombian Conservative Party		National Popular Alliance	1,036,650	26.23	26	+8
			Pastranistas	586,131	14.83	18	–
			Belisaristas	294,185	7.44	9	–
			Sourdistas	185,206	4.69	6	–
		Total		2,102,172	53.20	59	+6
	Colombian Liberal Party		Pastranistas	1,074,059	27.18	39	–
			National Popular Alliance	382,777	9.69	12	+12
			Sourdistas	152,506	3.86	5	–
			Belisaristas	131,430	3.33	3	–
			Others	108,653	2.75	0	–
		Total		1,849,425	46.80	59	+6
Total				3,951,597	100.00	118	+12
Valid votes				3,951,597	99.61
Invalid/blank votes				15,409	0.39
Total votes				3,967,006	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				7,666,716	51.74
Source: Nohlen

Chamber of Representatives

Party and faction				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Colombian Liberal Party		Pastranistas	1,051,666	26.51	57	–
			National Popular Alliance	563,614	14.21	28	+22
			Sourdistas	156,877	3.95	9	–
			Belisaristas	137,069	3.46	6	–
			People's Liberal Revolutionary Movement	34,491	0.87	0	–1
			Others	90,825	2.29	5	+5
		Total		2,034,542	51.29	105	+3
	Colombian Conservative Party		National Popular Alliance	849,138	21.41	43	+15
			Pastranistas	589,234	14.85	30	–
			Belisaristas	300,223	7.57	19	–
			Sourdistas	185,686	4.68	13	–
			Others	7,881	0.20	0	–
		Total		1,932,162	48.71	105	+3
Total				3,966,704	100.00	210	+6
Valid votes				3,966,704	99.66
Invalid/blank votes				13,497	0.34
Total votes				3,980,201	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				7,666,716	51.92
Source: Nohlen