Colombian Government

Colombia is a presidential country, and a unitary state with separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers. The current political Constitution was proclaimed on July 4, 1991. The 61st President of the Republic and the Departmental Governors are the ones in charge of enforcing the nation's regulations.

Branches of Public Power

Organization of the Colombian State.

The political constitution defines the structure of the Colombian state through the division of public power into three branches: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. However, given that there are state functions that these entities do not fulfill, the bodies are appointed to carry them out, such as: the Public Ministry, the Comptroller General, the National Electoral Council, the National Registry, the Bank of the Republic, the Communications Regulation Commission and the National Civil Service Commission, among others.

Executive Branch

Casa de Nariño, headquarters of the executive branch.

He is in charge of managing the nation's resources. The President of the nation and Head of Government is the head of the executive power, which he shares with a ministerial Cabinet. He is also the commander-in-chief of the Military Forces. The cabinet is made up, in addition to the President and the Vice President, of office ministers and directors of administrative departments. The executive branch has three levels: president (a) (national order), governors (a) (departmental order) and mayors (a) (municipal order)

The president is elected by direct popular vote for a period of four years or less, in case of substitution. The 1991 Constitution prohibited lifetime presidential re-election and mediate re-election was previously possible (a former president could be re-elected but the incumbent president could not be re-elected for the following term). With a constitutional referendum in 2005, this prohibition was abolished and immediate re-election was legalized for only one time. Two presidents made use of it, being able to participate in the elections from office. Currently, with legislative act 02 of 2015, presidential re-election is prohibited.

• Senior Management Councils
• Ministries
• Administrative Departments
• Superintendences without legal status
• Special administrative units without legal status

There are also Governors and Mayors who are elected by popular vote and who within their functions are the highest administrative authorities at their respective levels with functional independence from the presidency. This means that they are not subordinated to the presidency in matters of territorial ordering, but they are in other matters such as matters of public order.

Legislative branch

The National Capitol, Congress Headquarters

It is in charge of elaborating the norms and laws. Exercising control over the Government and reforming the Constitution.

A bicameral Congress made up of the Senate (100 members elected by national circumscription for a period of four years and an additional number of 2 senators elected in a special circumscription by indigenous communities) and the House of Representatives, made up of one hundred and sixty-six members elected for 4 years, of which one hundred and sixty-one represent the territorial constituencies (departments and the Capital District).

Judicial branch

The Palace of Justice in Bogotá, Headquarters of the High Courts.

It is responsible for applying the law fairly and resolves conflicts between people in accordance with the law. It is responsible for administering justice, resolving conflicts and controversies between citizens and between them and the State, and deciding controversial legal issues through pronouncements that acquire the force of definitive truth. Said pronouncements mainly take the form of judgments, rulings, or orders. It is in charge of making effective the rights, obligations, guarantees and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution and in the laws, in order to achieve and maintain social coexistence.

The judicial branch of Colombia begins with the Political Constitution of 1991. It is made up of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Constitutional Court, the Council of State, the Superior Council of the Judiciary, as well as the courts and tribunals. The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation is an independent body attached to the judicial branch of the Public Power in Colombia.

Electoral Organization

It is the set of entities in charge of organizing the elections, their management and surveillance, as well as everything related to the identification of people.

• National Electoral Council
• National Civil State Registry

Autonomous and independent bodies

They are State entities, with autonomy from the three branches of power, according to the Constitution or the laws due to their functional specialty.

• Bank of the Republic
• National Civil Service Commission
• Regional Autonomous Corporations
• Entes Universitarios Autónomos
• Communications Regulation Commission

Control Bodies

They are those organizations to which the Political Constitution entrusts the functions related to disciplinary control, defending the people and fiscal control. They are not attached to or linked to the branches of public power.

• General Audit of the Republic
• Comptroller General of the Republic
• Office of the Ombudsman
• Procuraduría General de la Nación

Other data

Departmental governments

The departments have their own governors and public corporations elected by suffrage every four years. They are subdivided into municipalities and some districts with a mayor and a municipal council, also elected every four years by direct vote.

Political Parties

According to the National Electoral Council of Colombia, the political organizations that currently have legal status in Colombia are:

1. Colombian Liberal Party
2. Colombian Conservative Party
3. Democratic Center Party
4. Radical Change Party
5. Social Party of National Unity "U Party"
6. Green Alliance Party
7. Colombia Humana
8. Alternative Democratic Party
9. UP Patriotic Union
10. Independent Social Alliance Party
11. MIRA political party
12. ADA Party
13. Colombia Justa Libres Party
14. Dignity Party
15. Colombia Renaissance Party
16. Oxygen Green Party
17. Colombian Communist Party
18. Common Party
19. League of Governors Anticorruption
20. New Liberalism
21. National Salvation Movement
22. Movement Indigenous Authorities of Colombia AICO
23. Movimiento Alternativo Indígena y Social MAIS
24. Colombian Democratic Party
25. Colombian Ecologist Party
26. Citizen Force Party
27. Party in March