This is how the four March referendums that will set the pace of the elections are being prepared: the center, the right, and the left have competition.

At renowned chef Leonor Espinosa's exclusive Leo restaurant in northern Bogotá, a new inter-party referendum has begun brewing ahead of the 2026 presidential elections.

On the evening of August 27, 13 center- and right-wing presidential candidates met to discuss a new alliance, which should produce several candidates who will compete in the interparty elections. The idea is to conduct a survey, and those who exceed a certain percentage—the talk is 5 percent—will go to the polls in March 2026 to test themselves. The winner would receive the support of the entire bloc in the first round, in May.

David Luna, Marta Lucía Ramírez, Enrique Peñalosa, Héctor Olimpo Espinosa, Mauricio Gómez Amin, Juan Guillermo Zuluaga, Wilson Ruiz, Mauricio Cárdenas, Juan Manuel Galán, Juan Carlos Cárdenas, Felipe Córdoba, Juan Daniel Oviedo, and Daniel Palacios attended the meeting. Aníbal Gaviria is also part of the meetings, but was not present due to an international commitment.

No agreement was reached at the meeting, but it was clear that there is an environment for further progress in building this new consultation. This goes beyond the names mentioned above. The idea is for the Liberal, Conservative, and "La U" parties to also join. In fact, there are already approaches with these groups, and the goal is for them to endorse the pre-candidates who do not have a party and have not collected signatures.

If realized, this alliance would shake up the presidential race and become a new power option in 2026, where it would compete with left-wing, center-right, and center-right candidates, who are also preparing their elections.

The idea of ​​President Gustavo Petro , the leading leftist leader, is for the candidate who emerges from the Historic Pact consultation, to be held in October, to go on to a consultation with the so-called Broad Front . Iván Cepeda, María José Pizarro, and the controversial Daniel Quintero, whom President Petro endorsed this week in a meeting with his party, are the names with the greatest support for this vote, which will be open.

A candidate from the Petrista faction, the same faction to which fugitive Carlos Ramón González, implicated in the UNGRD corruption scandal, is a member, is expected to be a candidate. This name is believed to come from the wing of Boyacá Governor Carlos Amaya, who is taking over the power of the former director of Dapre. The possibility of Camilo Romero, former ambassador to Argentina, running for office in this instance is not ruled out.

Furthermore, a sector of the center could participate in this referendum. It could be former senator and former ambassador Roy Barreras , key to the victory of the Historic Pact in 2022, but who has not confirmed his candidacy. The winner of this referendum will go to the first round with the full support of the ruling party and the government, because although the President cannot campaign, in his speeches he constantly calls for people to vote for one of his own candidates to continue his political project. "Watch out for 2026, I'm telling you," he said on Friday from Bucaramanga, Santander.

The assassination of Senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay and the initial conviction of former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez gave a new lease of life to the right, specifically the Democratic Center.

That party is in the process of running for office with Paloma Valencia, María Fernanda Cabal, Paola Holguín, Andrés Guerra, and Miguel Uribe Londoño, who became a pre-candidate after the death of his son.

Whoever wins that election will also go to a referendum in March, as Uribe himself, who has been campaigning constantly in the streets since regaining his freedom, knows that without alliances it will be difficult to win in 2026. In that referendum, although nothing is official, Abelardo de la Espriella and Vicky Dávila could participate. Furthermore, there are some sectors that insist on having other voices, such as that of former minister Juan Carlos Pinzón, to whom Uribe has sent several nods.

Today, it's not ruled out that Uribe's support could end up in the referendum that began brewing this week. There have been several conversations with former President Uribe, and the doors are not closed.

There's considerable anticipation on the right about the role Germán Vargas Lleras, the natural leader of Cambio Radical, will play. The former vice president has been away from politics in recent months due to health issues, but has already been resuming his activities, including his Sunday column in EL TIEMPO. It's not ruled out that he could be included in the right-wing consultation or even in the restaurant alliance.

While the other sectors are moving forward with agreements, the center remains stagnant. No alliance is in sight, and its two main figures, Sergio Fajardo and Claudia López, are each going their separate ways.

But Fajardo has stated on several occasions that this isn't the time to think about alliances, but rather to work on his campaign. In an interview with this newspaper, the former governor of Antioquia, who has led in various polls conducted, stated that he will pause in December and evaluate the relevance of seeking agreements.

Today, there are 80 candidates, but all roads lead not to the first round, but to the March elections. It is expected that by December, when the signature collection process concludes and the poll results are known, at least half of the presidential candidates will remain. With that, the elections will gain momentum and the race will officially begin.