Colombia

About parliament

Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. Also includes the current breakdown of MPs by sex and age, and provisions for quotas and reserved seats.

Parliament name
Congreso (Congress)
Chamber name
Senado de la República (Senate)
Structure & Status of parliament This field is to indicate lower/upper in the back end.
Upper chamber
Parliamentary term (years)
4

IPU membership

Affiliation periods
from 1931 to 1935
from 1973 to 1977
from 1979
IPU Geopolitical Group/s IPU Geopolitical Groups: African Group, Arab Group, Asia-Pacific Group, Eurasia Group, Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), Twelve Plus Group.
Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC)

Speaker

Official title The Speaker may for example be known as the Presiding Officer, President, Chairman/Chairperson, etc.
President of the Senate
Speaker
Roy Leonardo Barreras Montealegre (Male)
Year of birth
1963
Term
20.07.2022 to 20.07.2023
See historical data for this field.

Secretary General

Official title This post is most commonly called Secretary General or Clerk. It may also be called Secretary, Head/Chief of the Secretariat, Director General, etc.
Secretary General
Secretary General
Gregorio Eljach Pacheco (Male)
Notes Additional information about the Secretary General, in particular regarding their term.
Re-elected on 20 July 2014, 20 July 2016, 20 July 2018, 20 July 2020 and on 20 July 2022.

Members

Statutory number of members Statutory number of members, as defined in the constitution or other fundamental law.
108
See historical data for this field. Compare data of this field.
Principal mode of designation of members
Directly elected members Directly elected by citizens.
100
Other members For example, ex-officio members of parliament, such as Cabinet members, members of the royal family, Attorney General, Speaker if appointed from outside parliament.
8
Note on the statutory number of members
Others:
- Five members of the Comunes (formerly FARC);
- Two members of the indigenous communities
- The runner-up in the presidential election

The 2016 Peace Agreement guarantees the FARC five seats in each Chamber of Congress for the next two legislatures (2018-2022 and 2022-2026). Moreover, a new rule guarantees the presidential runner-up a seat in the Senate, while his or her running mate is guaranteed a seat in the House of Representatives for the 2018-2022 legislature. With these new measures, the number of senators has increased from 102 to 108, while that of representatives has increased from 166 to 172.
See historical data for this field.
Current number of members Number of members who currently hold seats in parliament. May be lower or higher than the statutory number of members.
106
See historical data for this field. Compare data of this field.
Men The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
74
See historical data for this field.
Women The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
32
See historical data for this field.
Percentage of women Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
30.19% See historical data for this field.
Statutory number of members per country As defined in the constitution or other fundamental laws. Combines the number of parliamentarians in both chambers in bicameral parliaments.
295 See historical data for this field.
Population (in thousands)
Click for historical data
See historical data for this field.

Age

Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at the start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature, except when parliament notifies the IPU of a change in the youngest or oldest member.

Average age of all members Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
48.70
See historical data for this field.
Youngest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
Youngest member
Jonathan Ferney Pulido Hernández (Male)
Oldest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
76
Oldest member
Humberto De La Calle Lombana (Male)
Number of members, by age
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Totals per age interval 0 1 26 17 19 23 9 5 0 0
Total <= 45: 44 Total >= 46: 56
Male 0 1 18 13 11 19 7 2 0 0 71
Female 0 0 8 4 8 4 2 3 0 0 29
Percentage of members, by age
Age as last election or renewalOverallMaleFemale
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger1%1%0%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger27%19%8%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger44%32%12%
Members for whom data is available
100 See historical data for this field.

Reserved seats and quotas

There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups Reserved seats are a means to ensure the parliamentary representation of certain groups in society.

Number of reserved seats, by group

Indigenous peoples
2
Electoral quota for women Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Notes
For lists submitted for election of 5 or more seats, at least 30% of candidates of each gender must be included. Political parties decide themselves whether their lists shall be open or closed. Candidate lists that do not comply with the legal requirements, including the gender quota requirement, shall be rejected.
Electoral quota for youth Quotas to promote the representation of youth in parliament.