Number of tiers

Colombia's Constitution of 1991 with Amendments through 2013

Article 263

For every popular election process the political parties and movements shall submit single lists and candidates, whose number may not exceed the number of seats or offices to be filled in the respective election.

In order to guarantee the equitable representation of the political parties and movements and of the relevant citizen groups, the seats in public bodies shall be distributed in accordance with the system of the distributing number between the lists of candidates which have crossed a minimum threshold of votes which may not be inferior to three percent (3%) of the votes cast in the case of the Senate of the Republic or to fifty percent (50%) of the electoral quotient in the case of the other public bodies, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the applicable statute.

If no lists of candidates crosses the threshold, the seats shall be distributed in accordance with the system of the distributing number.

An Act shall determine the other aspects of this matter.

The lists for public bodies in constituencies in which up to two (2) members of the respective body are elected may include up to three (3) candidates. In constituencies in which one member is elected the seat shall be assigned to the majority list. In the constituencies in which two members are elected the system of the electoral quota among the lists which receive votes equivalent to more than 30% of the quota.

Article 263-A

The distribution of seats between the members of the respective public body shall be made by application of the system of the distributing number. This number is obtained by dividing successively by one, two, three, or more the number of votes received by each list and placing the results in a descending order until the total number of results obtained corresponds to the number of seats to be filled.

The lowest resulting number is called the distributing number (cifra repartidora). Each list shall obtain the number of seats that corresponds to the number of times the distributing number is contained in the total number of its votes.

Each political party or movement may choose the system of preferential vote. In this case the voter may mark the candidate of his/her preference from the list of names shown on the ballot card. The list shall be reorganized according to the number of votes obtained by each candidate. The distribution of seats shall take place in descending order, beginning with the candidate who obtained the highest number of preferential votes.

In the case of the political parties and movements that have chosen the system of preferential vote, the votes for the party or movement that have not been given by the voter to any candidate in particular shall be counted for the respective list for the purpose of the application of the laws concerning the threshold and the distributing number, but they shall not be counted for the reorganization of the list. When the voter votes simultaneously for the political party or movement and for the candidate of his/her preference within the respective list, the vote shall be valid and shall be counted in favor of the candidate.