1990 Colombian presidential election

Colombian presidential election, 1990

27 May 1990

150x150px Nominee César Gaviria Álvaro Gómez Hurtado Party Liberal Party National Salvation Movement Popular vote 2,891,808 1,433,913 Percentage 48.2% 23.9%

President before election Virgilio Barco Vargas Liberal Party Elected President César Gaviria Liberal Party

Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 27 May 1990. In an election tarnished by violence, the result was a victory for César Gaviria of the Liberal Party, who received 48.2% of the vote.

Background

On 18 August 1989 Luis Carlos Galán, the Liberal Party's nominated presidential candidate and favourite for the election was assassinated. On 22 March 1990, Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa, the candidate of the Patriotic Union (UP), was assassinated, resulting in the UP pulling out of the elections. A third assassination occurred on 26 April, when the AD/M-19's candidate Carlos Pizarro Leongómez was killed. Pizarro was replaced by Antonio Navarro Wolff.

César Gaviria won the nomination for the Liberal Party candidacy in primary elections carried out on the same day as the March 1990 parliamentary elections. There had previously been an attempt to assassinate Gaviria when Avianca Flight 203 was bombed, but he was not on board.

Results

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
César Gaviria	Liberal Party	2,891,808	48.2
Álvaro Gómez Hurtado	National Salvation Movement	1,433,913	23.9
Antonio Navarro Wolff	Democratic Alliance M-19	754,740	12.6
Rodrigo Hernán Lloreda Caicedo	Social Conservative Party	735,374	12.3
Regina Betancur de Liska	Metapolitical Unitary Movement	37,537	0.6
Claudia Rodríguez de Castellanos	Christian National Party	33,645	0.6
Oscar Loaiza	Natural Party	9,468	0.2
José Agustín Linares	Christian Democratic Party	9,048	0.2
Luis Carlos Valencia	Socialist Workers' Party	8,168	0.1
Guillermo Alemán	Ecological Orientation Movement	7,429	0.1
Jesús García	Love for Colombia	2,411	0.0
Jairo Rodríguez	88 Meeting Movement	996	0.0
Invalid/blank votes		123,029	–
Total		6,047,566	100
Registered voters/turnout		13,903,324	43.5
Source: Nohlen