After the victory of the Historical Pact on March 13, 181 legislators are taking part in Congress for the first time   | Photo: EFE

Bogota, July 21 (RHC)-- The new Colombian Congress, with a majority of the Historical Pact coalition in both chambers, was installed on Wednesday in an official ceremony in the Elliptical Hall headed by President Iván Duque on a date coinciding with the celebration of the 212th anniversary of the cry of Independence.

For the 2022-2026 period, 108 senators and 187 representatives to the Chamber were installed, while around 181 legislators will take part in Congress for the first time, after the victory of the Historic Pact in elections last March 13th.

In this sense, 20 senators from Pacto Histórico, 15 from the Conservative Party, 14 from the Liberal Party, 12 from the Alianza Verde, 11 from Cambio Radical, 10 from the Partido de la U and five from Comunes were installed.

Four from the Christian movements and one each from the Movement of Indigenous Authorities of Colombia, the League of Anti-Corruption Rulers, the Green Alliance and the Alternative Indigenous and Social Movement.

President-elect Gustavo Petro will now have the majority of the Congress of the Republic on his side, due to the fact that this Tuesday the Partido de la U announced that it joins the coalition of support to the incoming government.

With the last minute adhesion of the deputies of La U, Petro has already harvested the sufficient number of congressional representatives to hold the majorities in the two chambers: the Senate and House of Representatives.  His party coalition will be constituted by 63 out of 108 senators and 114 out of 186 representatives in the House.

In turn, the representative of Pacto Histórico, Roy Barreras, will occupy the presidency of the Senate during the first year, to be held in the following years by the Green Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party.

Accordingly, Barreras affirmed that a favorable panorama has been created for Pacto Histórico by having a legislative majority, which is considered as "the largest with which any president in the history of Colombia will be sworn in recently."

According to the new president of the Congress, the priorities for this new legislative stage are the tax reform, as well as the revision of the General Budget of the Nation for 2023.