Who is Paloma Valencia, right-wing candidate in Colombia

Paloma Valencia reaches the end of the campaign with a weakened momentum, the proposal to bring together different sectors and the hope of being the candidate who will compete for the presidency with Petro's government.

Valencia confirmed in this campaign that she is the outstanding student of former president Álvaro Uribe and seeks to demonstrate that she can lead her political group to the Presidency again.

The senator, presidential candidate after winning the right-wing consultation in Colombia as an aspirant for the Democratic Center party, has defended the former president's name and project for years and has long tried to be the visible face of this movement.

She obtained an expressive vote of more than three million votes, surpassing that obtained by Iván Cepeda, the Petrismo candidate, in his consultation in 2025. She has the support of the second most voted party in Congress and also with the support of her eight colleagues in the Grand Consulta for Colombia.

Heiress of two political families, staunch critic of Gustavo Petro, controversial and, at the same time, considered moderate within Uribismo, who is Paloma Valencia and what will be her chances in this Sunday's elections?

Valencia, who is in her third term as senator, studied Law and Philosophy and completed a specialization in Economics and a master's degree in Creative Writing.

Born in 1979 in Popayán, Cauca, in western Colombia. She is the granddaughter of Guillermo León Valencia, conservative president between 1962 and 1966, and Mario Laserna, founder of the University of the Andes.

Before becoming a senator, she was a columnist and media analyst.

In 2006 he had his first electoral attempt: he ran unsuccessfully for the Alas Equipo Colombia party for the Chamber of Representatives. He reached the Senate in 2014 on the closed list of Uribe's newly created Democratic Center party. In 2018, she was a presidential pre-candidate, but ended up supporting Iván Duque, who arrived at Casa de Nariño.

In Congress, Valencia managed to turn three of his projects into law: the promotion of consumption and commercialization of panela (unrefined cane sugar), the end of the departments' monopoly on producing alcoholic beverages and a law on incentives for small businesses. He is a member of the First Committee of the Senate, responsible for constitutional reforms, statutory laws and territorial organization.

The then presidential pre-candidate for the Centro Demático political party, Paloma Valencia, participates in the registration event for 'Gran Consulta

Valencia itself describes itself as the opponent of the greatest achievements: it managed to suspend the Ministry of Equality created by Petro, prevented the appointment of ambassadors without requirements and opposed the popular consultation in the Senate; in addition, it seeks to overturn the government's pension reform.

The senator has had frequent confrontations with members of Petrismo, such as legislators Iván Cepeda (now a presidential candidate and her main rival) and María José Pizarro, and over the years she has been involved in controversies due to her statements.

In 2015, he suggested, in an interview, that the department of Cauca could be divided between indigenous and mestizos. Cauca is the department with the highest percentage of indigenous population in the country, around 20%.

A candidacy that emerged after a turbulent process
Valencia is now a candidate from a broad center-right political spectrum and is the first woman to be presidential candidate for the Democratic Center. Ela chega após um processo interno e externo anterior à consulta, marcado pelo assassinato do pré-candidato Miguel Uribe Turbay.

Em sua campanha, Valencia colocou a economia e a segurança como eixos centrais.

Ela foi escolhida primeiro como aspirante do Centro Democrático em 2025 por meio de duas pesquisas contratadas pelo partido, nas quais superou também as senadoras María Fernanda Cabal e Paola Holguín.

Embora ambas tenham reconhecido o resultado, Cabal pediu a divulgação dos dados e a auditoria das medições para esclarecer dúvidas sobre a transparência, uma reivindicação que revive críticas recorrentes sobre os mecanismos do partido e o peso real da decisão do ex-presidente Álvaro Uribe: as pesquisas inicialmente seriam realizadas em novembro, mas houve mudança de empresa responsável e, no meio do processo, ocorreu a saída de Miguel Uribe Londoño, pai do falecido pré-candidato.

A escolha interna de Valencia também confirma que o partido de Uribe aposta novamente em uma pessoa moderada (como fez com Iván Duque em 2018), capaz de atrair apoios de eleitores de centro.

A candidata à presidência da Colômbia, Paloma Valencia, participa da inscrição de sua candidatura e de seu vice, Juan Daniel Oviedo, em 13 de março de 2026, em Bogotá, Colômbia. - Andres Lozano/Long Visual Press/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Embora seja considerada na Colômbia uma uribista "puro-sangue", em sua atuação legislativa e midiática Valencia é conhecida por participar de debates com opositores e propor espaços de diálogo com políticos fora de seu partido, sendo vista como menos radical em suas posições do que colegas como María Fernanda Cabal.

Agora em 2026, após vencer a consulta, o desafio à frente ainda é grande, mas Valencia teve uma alta em março nas pesquisas e o resultado da consulta lhe deu um impulso que, na reta final, se estabilizou: ela parece ter sido ultrapassada pelo advogado Abelardo de la Espriella, o outsider de posições extremas que liderou nos últimos meses no espectro da direita e que se lançou por meio de assinaturas.

Ainda assim, Valencia, com um grande volume de votos que pode crescer e com a estrutura do Centro Democrático por trás, poderia frustrar a aspiração de De la Espriella.

Ao agradecer sua vitória na consulta após a jornada eleitoral, Valencia reiterou sua gratidão a Álvaro Uribe. But now it has greater support and has the possibility (and also the challenge) of capitalizing on the centrist votes won by Juan Daniel Oviedo, the surprise of the consultation.

She is, without a doubt, a faithful student of the former president, and this time she could expand the reach of Uribismo and defeat the continuity of Petro's project.

Primeiro, deve superar De la Espriella e avançar para o segundo turno. Os eleitores decidirão se Paloma Valencia decola rumo à segunda etapa ou se observa o chamado Tigre da arquibancada.

Source: CNN