The Colombian Conservative Party (Partido Conservador Colombiano), is a conservative and right of center Colombian political party.

The Colombian Conservative party was formally founded in October 4 1849, when a declaration of political principles was publicly published in the "La Civilización" newspaper, by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez and José Eusebio Caro . The party's original program called for the defense of constitutional order and legality against dictatorship and monarchy, the protection of property rights against communism, that of christian morality against atheism, the equality of citizens before the law, and the victory of civilization against barbarism.

It is usually the second largest single party in the Colombian Congress, though far behind the numbers corresponding to the Colombian Liberal Party or those of multiple independent factions and candidates.

The party's current programme includes several objectives: to continue the search for peace in Colombia (following the examples of former presidents Guillermo León Valencia, Belisario Betancur and Andrés Pastrana, as members of the party), to preserve national unity and the continuing belief in God held by the majority of Colombians, the need for a reform of the 1991 constitution in order to correct some of its flaws to promote the modernization of the state, to fight unemployment, poverty, and lack of security and to extend and defend property rights for all Colombians.

The Colombian Conservative Party is a close political ally of president Alvaro Uribe, who was formerly a member of the opposing Liberal party. It is not expected to present its own candidate for the 2006 presidential elections, if the possibility of president Uribe's reelection is approved by the Colombian Constitutional Court.

From 1958 to 1978 it, and the other major party, the Colombian Liberal Party, shared power as the result of the National Front agreement that followed the fall of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla .

See also

• Politics of Colombia
• List of political parties in Colombia

External links

• http://www.conservatismocolombiano.org (Homepage, Spanish)