Andean Group - March 2011 (ISSN 1741-4466)

Following the early February announcement that Enrique Peñalosa will run for the Partido Verde (PV) in the race for the mayoralty of Bogotá, the second most important government position in Colombia, Bogotá councilman Carlos Fernando Galán of the Partido Cambio Radical (PCR) confirmed that he is the party's candidate in the 30 October regional elections. Galán sought to be politically inclusive in his launch statement, announcing that the PCR had not ruled out a coalition or the possibility of backing a joint candidacy with one of the major political parties, with the notable exception of the ruling Polo Democrático Alternativo (PDA).

Galán's candidacy ended three months of speculation within the PCR leadership but it didn't clarify if the PCR will enter an alliance with the Partido Liberal (PL), from which the PCR originally emerged, to run a joint ticket. If Galán were to reach election day on his own, he would become the first PCR candidate to run for mayor of Bogotá, thus continuing the party's trend of firsts, which in May 2010 saw its presidential candidate (now minister of interior and justice), Germán Vargas Lleras, come in third place with a strong national performance (10.15% of the vote in the first round).

Carlos Fernando Galán is the son of Luis Carlos Galán, the PL's first-choice presidential candidate in the 1990 election, who was assassinated by Pablo Escobar's hit men as he prepared to lead a rally in Soacha, Bogotá's most populous suburb, in August 1989. After Galán's death, his family rallied behind the candidacy of César Gaviria (1990-1994), then leader of Galán's debate team, who went on to win the 1990 vote. The Galanistas are still a very strong political grouping within the PL and the PCR and it is possible that his father's name will give him a higher level of support than he would enjoy if he weren't a Galán - similar to the situation of the current Argentine presidential pre-candidate Ricardo Alfonsí­n.

Nonetheless, Carlos Fernando Galán is considering at least three possible scenarios in addition to running on his own: first, the PL and the PCR may hold an intra-party consultation to back a single candidate to be decided between Galán and the PL's David Luna; second, all the parties that make up President Juan Manuel Santos's coalition of national unity (Partido de la U [PU], Partido Conservador [PC], PL and PCR) could hold an intra-party primary to replicate the national coalition in Bogotá and rally behind one candidate; or third, the coalition consultation could also include the Partido Verde (PV). In other words, the PCR is open to proposals from all camps bar the PDA, whose position is increasingly weak due to the allegations of corruption against its serving mayor, Samuel Moreno Rojas (see sidebar).

• Moreno suspended
  On 7 March, the ethics and guarantees' committee of the PDA suspended Senator Iván Moreno Rojas from the party for three months pending corruption investigations into public tendering processes in Bogotá. Moreno's suspension by the seven member committee is a clear break with the party line. When in October 2010 the former PDA presidential candidate, Gustavo Petro, denounced the alleged participation of the Moreno brothers, Iván and Samuel (the incumbent mayor of Bogotá), in the scandal, the party's directorate unanimously voted to stand behind the Morenos, which eventually led to Petro's exit from the PDA. The latest move has created fresh divisions within the party, with at least one member of the ethics committee refusing to endorse the decision with his signature.