The Congress of the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: Congreso de la República de Colombia) is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature.
The Congress of Colombia consists of the 103-seat Senate, and the 183-seat Chamber of Representatives, Members of both houses are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms.
The composition, organization and powers of Congress and the legislative procedure are established by the fourth title of the Colombian Constitution. According to article 114 of the Constitution, the Congress amends the constitution, makes the law and exercises political control over the government and the public administration. In addition, the Constitution and the law grant other powers to Congress, including certain judicial powers and electing senior judges and other senior public officials.
Both houses of Congress meet at the neoclassical Capitolio Nacional ("National Capitol") building in central Bogotá, the construction of which began in 1847 and was not concluded until 1926. Each house has its own election procedure and individual powers distinguishing them from the other, which are further discussed in the article for each individual house.
Each house has its own eligibility requirements established by the Constitution, but there are common rules of ineligibility and incompatibility (régimen de inhabilidades e incompatibilidades), determined by the Constitution.
Anyone who has been sentenced to deprivation of liberty (detention) at any time except for political crimes and culpable negligence; hold dual citizenship and are not native-born citizens; held a public employment position with political, civil, administrative or military authority or jurisdiction within the year prior the election; participated in business transactions with public entities or concluded contracts with them, or were legal representatives of entities which handled taxes or quasi-fiscal levies within the six months prior to the election; lost their mandate (investidura) as members of Congress or holds ties of marriage or kinship with civil servants holding civil or political authority may not be elected to Congress. In addition, relatives through marriage or kinship who are registered candidates for the same party for an office elected on the same day may not be members of Congress. The constitution also bans election to or membership in more than one office or body, even if the terms only overlap partially.
Members of Congress may not hold another public or private office (except university professorship); manage matters or conclude contracts, in their name or that of someone else, with public entities or persons administering taxes or serve as a member of any board or executive committee of decentralized public entities or institutions administering taxes.
Violations of the rules of ineligibility, incompatibility, conflict of interest lead to the loss of one's mandate (investidura) as congressmen; as does an absence (during the same session) to six plenary sessions, failing to take their seat within eight days following the first meeting of the house, improper use of public funds or duly proven influence peddling. The Council of State rules on the loss of mandate within twenty days of the request made by a citizen or the executive committee of the appropriate house.
Members of Congress enjoy immunity for their opinions and the votes that they cast in the exercise of their office. For crimes committed during their term, only the Supreme Court of Justice may order the arrest and try them.
Members of Congress do not have alternates (suplente) and are only replaced in the event of a temporary or permanent absences, as decreed by law, by the next non-elected candidate on the list from which he/she was elected, ranked in order of registration or votes received. Permanent absences include death, physical incapacity, nullification of the election, justified and accepted resignation, disciplinary sanctions and the loss of one's mandate. Temporary absences include maternity leave and temporary deprivation of liberty from crimes other than those signalled in the paragraph below.
In the wake of the parapolitics scandal, a political reform in 2009 created the so-called silla vacía (empty seat) mechanism, according to which anyone who has been sentenced for membership, promotion or funding of illegal armed groups; drug trafficking; intentional wrongdoing against the public administration or mechanisms of democratic participation or crimes against humanity cannot be replaced. Likewise, any congressmen who resigns after having been formally indicted in Colombia for any of these crimes or who is temporarily absent after an arrest warrant has been issued for any of these crimes is not replaced. These rules not only apply to Congress, but to all other directly elected bodies - departmental assemblies, municipal councils and local administrative boards. These provisions were strengthened by the 2015 constitutional reform, which added fraudulent wrongdoings against public administration as a crime not resulting in replacement.
Although each house of Congress serves a particular role and have individual powers distinguishing them from one another, both houses have certain powers in common, according to Article 135 of the Constitution; namely:
Electing its executive committees and its secretary general for a two-year period
Request from the government the information that the house may need, except information regarding diplomatic instructions and classified documents
Determine the convening of sessions reserved to address oral questions by congressmen to cabinet ministers and the answers of the latter
To fill the positions established by law necessary for the execution of powers
Seek from the government the cooperation of government agencies to improve the performance of their duties
Organizing its internal maintenance of order.