A new legislative session is about to begin in Colombia. One of the most important branches of the country's structure is improvising its dynamics in the face of a pandemic threat, with a scope greater than that estimated by health authorities. For now, it is known that on July 20, National Independence Day, the installation of the new parliament will be done remotely.
A complex scenario faces the obligation to choose the steering committees that will form the Senate and the House of Representatives, and whose vote must be secret. Every year, for just over two centuries, the plenary session of the Congress of the Republic must meet to install the sessions and renew the presidencies of the Senate, the House, and the constitutional and legal commissions. This year, thanks to the reach of Covid-19 in the country, the act will be carried out through a virtual platform, but many details still need to be clarified in order to achieve the conditions that the act demands.
Without a doubt, the decision seeks to protect the health of the parliamentarians, most of whom are over 65 years old. To date, seven have tested positive for COVID-19. A large portion of the total congress members would have to travel to Bogotá from their regions, a maneuver that implies an even greater risk of possible contagion. This is because, even if in-person elections were established, maintaining distance within the legislative chamber, the previous protocols for the arrival of congress members, their current health conditions, pre-existing illnesses, and current airline limitations, all appear as significant obstacles to achieving it.
According to Revista Semana, citing direct sources from the Senate, the intention to ensure the effectiveness of the votes, while respecting the constitutional conditions of the act, is to integrate a virtual secret voting system that guarantees the vote of parliamentarians. The details of this system are still unknown.
Two of the opposition congressmen who have criticized virtual sessions are Roy Barreras and Jorge Robledo. Both have stated that this mode of legislature is unconstitutional and does not allow for the proper exercise of parliamentary functions.
This is the first step to overcome in the first electoral act of the new legislature. Near future decisions, in which a secret ballot is a determining factor, depend on this. While virtuality has been an indispensable tool for continuing parliamentary work, the Constitutional Court declared Article 12 of Decree 491 of 2020, which allowed virtual sessions of the branches of public power, including non-presential sessions of Parliament, unconstitutional.
However, the judicial body clarified that if the legislative branch changes its internal regulations and includes the possibility of virtual sessions, it could do so. It is up to Congress to disclose the defined mechanisms to ensure the effectiveness of its electoral acts and, beyond that, guarantee parliamentary continuity, respecting the established constitutional precepts.
Lidio García, the president of Congress, accepted the Court's decision, considering it sensible and responsible; “as it sought to safeguard the lives of congressmen.”.