General elections were held in Colombia on 19 April 1970 to elect the President, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives.[1] It was the first time all three institutions had been elected on the same day, and was also the last election under the National Front agreement, which had restricted electoral participation to the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, with each party allocated 50% of the seats in both houses,[2] whilst the Presidency alternated between the two parties. As a result, the main contest in parliamentary elections was between factions within each party,[2] whilst only Conservative candidates ran for the presidency. The result was a victory for Misael Pastrana Borrero, who received 40.7% of the vote.[3] However, supporters of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla claimed that the election had been rigged in favour of Pastrana.[3] Rojas had also been supported by the Christian Social Democratic Party.[3] The 19th of April Movement guerrillas traced their origins to this alleged fraud.[4]
