At stake in this Referendum:

• The referendum will ask voters to vote on several changes to the constitution dealing with fiscal and political reforms.

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Alvaro URIBE Velez
• Head of Government: President Alvaro URIBE Velez
• 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.

Main provisions in the Referendum:

• Constitutional referendum In this referendum, voters were asked to individually vote on the 15 provisions. Originally there were 18 provisions, but 3 were rejected by the Constitutional Court.
  • Provision 1: Official incompetence in public office, who takes on public property
    • Valid Votes: 6,293,807
    • Votes in Favor: 5,874,193 (93.33%)
    • Votes Against: 294,348 (4.68%)
    • Result: Adopted
  • Provisions 2 through 15 were all discarded because they did not reach the turnout threshold. For each provision, the number of valid votes was less than the required 25% of total registered voters. The discarded provisions addressed roll call votes in Congress and local meetings, abrogations and the replacement of deputies, the influence of Congress over public service broadcasters, the ability of MPs to work in the parliamentary services, reducing the size of Congress and local councils, grounds for impeaching public officials, restricting the size of state pensions, abolishing regional and local audit offices, eliminating the use of public funds in election campaigns, reallocating government money for health and education programs, a potential two-year government spending freeze, a change in the legal status of parties receiving less than 2% of votes, and more.

Note: Percentages are relative to total votes cast.

Electoral Requirements

• At least 25% of the registered voters must vote for the referendum results to be valid. Voters must vote "yes" or "no" individually on each of the 15 provisions in the referendum.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 41,662,073 (July 2003 est.)
• Registered Voters: 24,208,311 ( 2002 )

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 21,324,172 (2003)

·         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: N/A

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 20 (House of Representatives); 9 (Senate) (following 2002 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: 6,249,310 (est.)