2024-07-22 03:40:05
With 98 votes in favor, Senator Efraín Cepeda, of the Conservative Party, is the new president of the Senate of the Republic. This is the second time he has held this position after his election in 2017. Cepeda will serve as such in the third legislative period, between July 20, 2024 and June 20, 2025.
Cepeda received the majority vote of confidence from his colleagues who highlighted his extensive career, integrity and experience in more than 32 years as a senator. In his inaugural address, the new president expressed his gratitude for the trust granted and highlighted the importance of this decisive moment for Colombia.
“I want to thank this corporation for the trust it has placed in me by giving me this responsibility at a time that I consider decisive for the country. I receive this mandate as a recognition of the experience I have had within Congress, as well as a way of doing politics, far from the stridency, the disqualifications and those passions that so hinder dialogue, intelligent debate and the consensus that this country so badly needs,” he said.
The official will replace Iván Leonidas Name, who is leaving office embroiled in what is believed to be the biggest corruption scandal of President Gustavo Petro’s government, related to the diversion of resources and the direction of contracts in the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (Ungrd).
Likewise, John Jairo Roldán Avendaño with 80 votes in favor was elected to occupy the first vice presidency of the Senate.
Alirio Barrera, for his part, won the second vice-presidency of the corporation with 94 votes. And Juan Gregorio Eljach Pacheco was elected, once again, Secretary General of the Senate.
He already sounded like a president
In this sense, Cepeda, when announcing his candidacy for the post, received the support of at least 90% of the senators. As well as the support of his party’s bench, he also added the promise of votes from the benches of the Green Alliance party, the Liberal Party, the Democratic Center, Radical Change, the Party of the U, and the Independent Social Alliance (ASI).
“I am very grateful to the party, which nominated me for the presidency of the Senate by unanimous decision, with 15 votes out of 15 (senators). And the other thing I must say is that almost all of its benches have expressed their support, some in writing, others verbally. To date, 90% of the Senate has expressed its support for me. This creates a great commitment for me, both with the Senate, the country and the benches,” said Cepeda when he announced his aspiration to the presidency of the Senate.
Thus, the new president of the Senate, who was already a possible candidate for the post, gave a message focused on the need to guarantee democracy in the country and to distance ourselves from the “fleeting exhibitionism” that has triggered, in part, the rejection of the citizens in the Congress of the Republic.
“Always seeking, in a democracy, agreements that benefit Colombia, at a time when citizen distrust prevails and where it is not easy to find a public spokesperson who generates credibility or certainty,” the official added after the vote.
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