Via El Tiempo El presidente Álvaro Uribe y el Polo Democrático Alternativo hirieron de muerte al bipartidismo comes this description of the Serpa campaign HQ after the vote:

El ambiente en el cuartel liberal en el Hotel Cosmos 100 de Bogotá era frío./ The atmosphere of the of Liberal headquarters at the Cosmos 100 Hotel in Bogotá was cold.

I bet it was. This was the worst defeat the PL has ever experienced at the ballot box. Indeed, it is an outcome that would have been considered unthinkable even four years ago. Indeed, as I have noted before, a decade or so ago there were those who thought that the PL would be permanently in the majority.

Of course, all defeats are not equal. At the HQ of the Carlos Gaviria, the second place winner:

las caras eran de felicidad pues a pesar de la derrota/the faces were happy in spite of the defeat

Gaviria’s finish was the best for a left-leaning presidential candidate in the history of Colombia. Only the AD/M-19 list for the National Constituent Assembly in 1990 was a better finish (percentage-wise) for the political left in a national election.