National Front (Colombia)

National Front (Spanish: Frente Nacional 1958–1974) was a period in the history of Colombia in which the two main political parties, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, agreed to rotate power, intercalating for a period of four presidential terms. The National Front Presidents were Alberto Lleras Camargo (Liberal), Guillermo León Valencia (Conservative), Carlos Lleras Restrepo (Liberal), and Misael Pastrana Borrero (Conservative).

The growing worries that the regime of the military dictatorship of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (1953-1957) expanded to become a populist dictatorship and the creation of a third political party united both Liberal and Conservative parties against the regime. The Liberal Party was then headed by Alberto Lleras Camargo and the Conservative Party was led by Laureano Gómez. They both signed an accord on June 24, 1956 to begin the National Front.

The National Front consisted in intercalating presidential terms sharing the bureaucracy in equal parts from 1958 to 1974, four complete presidential terms of four years each, two of Liberal mandates and two of Conservative mandates. The idea surged after former president Rafael Reyes (1904-1909) which was known as the Concordia Nacional, a conservative government that allowed half of its cabinet to be shared with liberals. After President Reyes departure a third political movement surged, known as the "Union Republicana".

Years later, in 1946 the "Union Nacional" was offered by the then Conservative presidential candidate Mariano Ospina Pérez and put in practice as he was elected president. Ospina shared ministries and provincial governors with the Liberal Party in equal halves. On February 29, 1948 the Liberal Party led by Jorge Eliecer Gaitan decided to leave "Union Nacional" and retreated Liberal members from the governments cabinet. On March 21, 1948 President Ospina then appointed replacements all from his Conservative party.

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