In search of the afro-colombian community: a proposition for the special constituency in the House of Representatives En busca de la comunidad afrocolombiana: una propuesta para la circunscripción especial de la Cámara de Representantes

Abstract

The  criticism  that  the  special  constituency  of  Afro-Colombian  communities  has  faced  in  the House of Representatives merits legal reforms and mobilization strategies that build an identity vote. The capture by traditional politics, the perverse incentive of legal status as political parties for the organizations that win seats, the poor legislative performance of the congressmen in favor of  the  population,  and  the  difficulties  for  political  coordination  are  some  of  the  problems  that the  community  must  solve  in  order  to  justify  this  affirmative  action.  Based  on  the  review  of the  literature,  the  law  and  jurisprudence  on  the  subject,  the  analysis  of  the  electoral  results  of the  constituency  and  interviews  with  prominent  leaders  within  the  community,  this  research  is concluded with a proposal of institutional design for the seats of Afro-Colombian communities that, first, recognizes the right of nomination of candidates to all organizations that the law allows to  establish  around  the Afro  cause,  second,  promotes  alliances  between  organizations  through shortlists of candidates or participation mechanisms that allow community members to previously know the candidates, third, modifies the ballot, ensuring an exclusive one for the constituency, and finally, extends the threshold of 3% of the valid votes required for elections to the Senate, both to obtain seats and to become political parties.