At stake in this election:

• 102 seats in the Senate of Colombia.

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Juan Manuel SANTOS Calderon
• Head of Government: President Juan Manuel SANTOS Calderon
• Assembly: Colombia has a bicameral Congress (Congreso) consisting of the Senate (Senado) with 102 seats and the House of Representatives (Camara de Representantes) with 166 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• In the Senate (Senado) 102 members are elected through a party-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.[i] There is 1 multi-member national constituency with 100 seats and 1 multi-member special national constituency for indigenous (Indian) communities with 2 seats.

Election Notes:

• The last elections to the Senate (Senado) were held on March 14, 2010. In total, 948 candidates over 16 lists competed in the 2010 election, with parties allied to then-President Álvaro Uribe maintaining their majority in the Senate (Senado). In the election, the Uribe-led Party of the U / Partido de la «U» received the most seats with 28 (25.84 percent of the vote), and the Uribe-allied Conservative Party / Partido Conservador gained the second most seats with 22 (21.18 percent of the vote).

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Social Party of National Unity / Partido Social de Unidad Nacional (Party of the U / Partido de «la U»)
  • Leader: Jose Manuel SANTOS Calderon
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 28
• Colombian Conservative Party / Partido Conservador Colombiano
  • Leader: Omar YEPES Alzate
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 22
• Colombian Liberal Party / Partido Liberal Colombiano (PLC)
  • Leader: Simón GAVIRIA Muñoz
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 17
• Radical Change Party / Partido Cambio Radical
  • Leader: German VARGAS LLERAS
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 8
• National Integration Party / Partido de Integración Nacional (PIN)
  • Leader: Angel Alirio MORENO Mateus
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 9
• Alternative Democratic Pole / Polo Democrático Alternativo (PDA)
  • Leader: Clara LÓPEZ OBREGÓN
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 8
• Green Alliance / Alianza Verde
  • Leaders: Luis Carlos AVELLANEDA and Antonio SANGUINO
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 5
• Independent Movement of Absolute Renovation / Movimiento Independient de Renovación Absoluta (MIRA)
  • Leader: Carlos Alberto BAENA
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 3
• Democratic Center / Centro Democrático
  • Leader: Alicia Arango OLMOS
  • Seats won in last Senate election: N/A[ii]

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 47,791,393 (2014)
• Registered Voters: 32,835,856 (2014)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 24,255,888 (2014)

·         Is Colombia a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Colombia ratified CEDAW: Yes (19 January 1982)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 33 (House of Representatives); 23 (Senate) (following 2014 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 97 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Colombia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Colombia ratified CRPD: Yes (10 May 2011)

·         Population with a disability: 7,168,708 (est.)