Political participation of the opposition in Colombia after the 2016 Peace Agreement

Abstract

One of the expectations generated by the Peace Agreement signed in November 2016 between the Colombian Government and the FARC-EP guerrillas was to create the conditions of democratic openness that would allow the conditions for political participation of the opposition. As a working hypothesis it is considered that the Colombian political regime has not provided enough guarantees for the participation and exercise of democracy and that the current government has allowed the conditions of political, social, and armed conflict to be sharpened. The method of analysis adopted is interpretative and inductive, with a focus on the political participation of the opposition in the broad sense. The information obtained was critically analyzed considering the guarantees for the exercise of the opposition, freedom of expression and association and social movements. It was found that social organizations and movements have not achieved significant participation as an opposition and that there is a greater commitment of the now FARC political party to what was agreed in 2016. It is concluded that the Peace Agreement failed to provide enough guarantees for the political participation of the opposition and the exercise of democracy.