The 'game of thrones' behind the presidency of the House: which party will remain in power?

Although there are still almost five months to go until the election of the new presidents of the Senate and the House of Representatives , an intense bidding war has begun in the latter corporation that seems like a game of thrones in which they seek to take power away from Cambio Radical.

At the beginning of this period, in 2022, the heads of each party made an agreement to decide how the rotation of the presidency would be carried out in each legislative year.

The initial agreement was that the Pacto Histórico bench would have the first year in the House, a decision that was not 100 percent approved by President Gustavo Petro, but which was finally fulfilled when David Racero was the head of the corporation between 2022 and 2023. In the following legislature, it was the Liberals' turn, with Andrés Calle being chosen.

The election of the president of the third legislature, which corresponded to the Green Alliance, was intense and different from what happened in the previous elections. In the Green Alliance there was no consensus to present a single candidate and Katherine Miranda, from the independent wing, and Jaime Raúl Salamanca, closer to the Government, competed in a clean vote.

With Salamanca, the Executive's agenda had moved at a good pace, but in the new year not everything is rosy. Since the end of the extraordinary sessions called by the Government to discuss the health reform, which took place on February 13 and 14, the health reform has not been able to be discussed.

The stumbling block has been a disagreement within the board of directors, where vice presidents Lina María Garrido (Cambio Radical) and Jorge Tovar (seats for peace) remain firm and have refused to sign the agenda of the plenary session if the health reform appears in the document. They argue that it is not convenient to process the project without the fiscal endorsement being presented.

This dispute at the table is what will generate changes in the initial agreement between the parties for the rotation of the presidency. After the Green Alliance, on paper, the party that followed was Cambio Radical, then an independent party.

Given this situation, in which this bench has declared itself in opposition to the Government and has demonstrated with figures such as Garrido that it will not allow the Executive's initiatives to advance, such as that of health, the move that the ruling party is planning is to break the agreement and have another party take the lead.

Many will wonder why not follow the same strategy as the one carried out with Miranda, and the answer is that there is no figure like Salamanca within Cambio Radical. In this bench, with its natural leader, Germán Vargas Lleras, there is no possibility of opening the doors for the Government to prioritize its interests.

However, if the agreement is broken (which is the most likely thing to happen), the power struggle that will be generated in the Chamber will be great. Between 'la U', the former party of the designated Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti, and the conservatives in the Chamber, who have supported the Government, the chosen one would be. Even the name of the conservative Juan Carlos Wills is mentioned as a candidate for that position.

The congressman has already been president of the First Commission and would have the experience to lead the Chamber. In addition, he is part of a party that within the corporation has demonstrated, with some of its members, that it supports the Government's proposals.

However, what has come to light is that he would not be the only one who has been rumoured to lead the corporation. Also, from the Historic Pact, the pieces would be moving with Alejandro Campo, Gabriel Becerra, Agmeth Escaf (was president of the Seventh Commission) and Alejandro Toro (president of the Second Commission) . However, this would not be accepted, taking into account that the governing party already had its year of presidency.

But the breach of agreements would not only be in the House. Cambio Radical does not rule out that if they are deprived of the presidency, they would seek to reach an agreement with the conservatives of the Senate and the Democratic Centre to nominate someone to lead the Senate, despite the fact that according to the agreements of that corporation, the dignity should be for the Liberal Party.

Maria Alejandra Gonzalez Duarte