Five celebrities who burned themselves trying to get to Congress

The traditional parties, in their desperate search for voters, put on their lists for Congress the names of famous people who, despite their great recognition, did not obtain the expected number of votes.

Once again it was shown that the famous and loved by Colombians do not always inspire young people and do not generate the necessary trust among the old.

Catherine Ibargüen, Juan Carlos Henao and Jackeline Rentería, three athletes recognized throughout the country, as well as Jaime Andrés Motta, distinguished for his work as announcer of Los 40 Principales, and Vanesa Mendoza, former beauty queen, did not get enough votes to stay with a seat in Congress.

Dilian Francisca Toro’s attempt, director of the La U Party, to renew the image of her community with Caterine Ibargüen as head of the Senate list, did not go beyond marketing.

Although on many occasions the heads of the list get an important vote – simply because they have the first number that appears on the ballot – this was not the case. Ibargüen’s is especially striking because he obtained only 42,733 votes compared to his fellow candidates who obtained more than 63,896. The same thing happened with Jackeline Rentería, who added just 2,842 votes to reach the House of Representatives for Valle del Cauca, with the same party.

Both promised an agenda focused on athletes and improving their working conditions, pensions and more, but with that they did not conquer the majority.

Apart from these two, also Juan Carlos Henao, ex-soccer player of Once Caldas, tried to keep a seat in the Chamber for the department of Caldas with the party Gente en Movimiento, of Mauricio Lizcano (former president of the Senate). In the same way that happened to Ibargüen and Rentería, their fans were not reflected in votes. Just 9,536 people dialed their number on the card.

Perhaps the false belief that being athletes could capture the votes of young people led them to be overconfident. However, the formula of launching recognized names into politics is not new and does not generally work, despite the exceptions, in a traditionalist country like Colombia.

For Mateo Ortiz, from the Javeriano Youth Observatory, none of these characters had an agenda in favor of young people, but neither did they have something that captivated the general public, who were more comfortable choosing people with experience in the political arena.

In addition to this, in Colombia “we prefer old people known to old people to know.” That’s why seasoned politicians — despite the arrival of some new faces in Congress this time — are still going strong.

“Generally these figures do not have much chance of passing in Congress, it is not easy to compete with politicians,” explains analyst Yann Basset.

Thus, two other celebrities who launched with the Democratic Center were also burned: the former queen Vanesa Mendoza and the former announcer of Los 40 Principales Andrés Motta. Away from sports, but recognized on social networks and in the media, they were looking for a seat in the upper house of Congress with the Democratic Center.

Mendoza only won 4,367 votes and his campaign made little noise, despite having experience as a representative to the Chamber in the Afro District. In the past, other public figures have wanted to occupy that seat, using their fame to achieve it, but the competition is completely different for the national and departmental seats. Motta obtained only 7,630 votes.

The foregoing, however, does not mean that tweeters and youtubers have won a seat, such as Ariel Ávila or John Pe, from Centro Esperanza. But their cases are not the rule and, for now, in Colombia the pure-blooded politicians will continue to dominate the benches

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