Democratic Center (Colombia)

Democratic Centre (identified electorally as Democratic Centre – Strong Hand, Big Heart; Centro Democrático – Mano firme, corazón grande) is a conservative political party in Colombia founded in 2013 by Álvaro Uribe, former President of Colombia, former Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón and former Minister of Finance and Public Credit Óscar Iván Zuluaga. It is a self-described party of the centre, although in opinion groups it is often considered right-wing to far-right.

The party is currently in opposition to the left-wing presidency of Gustavo Petro.

History
The party was founded in 2014. A key factor in this were the Government negotiations with FARC, the Popular sovereignty force in the Colombian armed conflict against policies of Political economy.

Although created as a decidedly right-wing party, its members now come from a wide range of political backgrounds, including former politicians of the right-wing Conservative Party, the center-right Social Party of National Unity, and from the left-wing Alternative Democratic Pole, such as Senator Everth Bustamante.

The party is a strong advocate of economic liberalism. It intends to lower corporate taxation and further liberalise the economy in order to attract international investors, particularly to promote the exploitation of natural resources. On international policy issues, the party is pro-American.

During the 2020 United States elections, Democratic Centre promoted Republican Party candidates in the United States, especially in Florida, sharing their support for President of the United States Donald Trump. The party's involvement with promoting political candidates in a foreign election drew controversy among some observers.

With President Duque's unpopularity rate reaching 70%, the government was faced with the largest demonstrations in the country's history from 2019 onwards. The demonstrators intend to denounce the government's plans to make the labour market more flexible, to weaken the public pension fund in favour of private entities, and to raise the retirement age. The unions are also protesting against the tax reform, which aims to reduce the taxes paid by companies, and against the privatisations under way. Another massive protest movement took place in 2021.

The party was considered a regional partner of European Conservatives and Reformists Party until 2022.

Electoral history
In the 2014 congressional elections, the Democratic Centre won 20 seats in the Senate and 19 seats in the Chamber of Representatives.

In the 2014 presidential election, the Democratic Centre chose Óscar Iván Zuluaga, the Senator and Finance Minister during the Uribe Administration, as its presidential nominee. Zuluaga won the first round, but subsequently lost the second round to incumbent President Santos.

Despite the second round loss, the electoral performance in both congressional and presidential elections provided the Democratic Centre with a platform to establish itself as the major opposition party in Colombia. The party has since taken steps to improve its political infrastructure given that it lagged in funding and party organisation compared to more traditional political parties.