The mainstream media is currently mourning the "Comunes" party like it’s a tragedy. They see the former FARC rebels struggling to scrape together a fraction of a percentage point in the polls and they call it a failure of the 2016 Peace Accord. They’re dead wrong. The impending electoral extinction of the FARC’s political successor isn’t a sign that the peace process is failing; it is the ultimate proof that it worked.
For decades, the FARC operated under the delusion that they represented the "will of the people." They burned down villages, kidnapped civilians, and funded a Marxist-Leninist dream with cocaine hectares, all while claiming they were the vanguard of the oppressed. When they finally traded their rifles for ballots, they expected a hero’s welcome at the polls. Instead, they found a cold, hard reality: nobody wants what they’re selling.
The "lazy consensus" among international observers is that the Colombian government must "save" the Comunes party to ensure the peace holds. That is a dangerous, patronizing fallacy. Democracy doesn't owe a party survival. It owes them a fair fight. The FARC got their fight, and they are losing because they are a brand poisoned by their own history.
The Myth of the "Stolen" Election
Every time a Comunes candidate fails to clear the threshold for a seat, the outcry follows: "The system is rigged against them!" Or, "Violence against ex-combatants is suppressing the vote!"
Let’s dismantle that. While the security situation in rural Colombia is objectively grim, the failure of the Comunes party isn't a security issue. It’s a marketing issue. They didn't change their name to "Comunes" until 2021—previously, they kept the "FARC" acronym, standing for Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común. Imagine a German political party in 1950 trying to keep "NSDAP" in their name because it had "heritage." It’s a level of tone-deafness that borders on the pathological.
I’ve spent years analyzing political transitions in post-conflict zones. The pattern is always the same: if you don’t pivot from the "armed struggle" mindset to a "service-provider" mindset, you die. The Comunes leadership stayed in the clouds. They talked about sweeping agrarian reform and Marxist theory while the people in the Chocó and Catatumbo regions just wanted clean water and a road that didn't wash away in the rain.
The party didn't lose because of a conspiracy. They lost because they are a top-heavy organization of geriatric commanders who have no idea how to talk to a 20-year-old voter in Bogotá.
The 10-Seat Crutch
Under the 2016 Peace Accord, the FARC was guaranteed five seats in the Senate and five in the House of Representatives for two terms. This was a necessary bribe to get them out of the jungle. But it also became a poison pill.
These "guaranteed" seats allowed the Comunes to ignore the basic mechanics of political survival. When you don't have to earn your dinner, you lose the ability to hunt. While other parties were out building coalitions, door-knocking, and fundraising, the Comunes leaders were sitting in the halls of Congress, drawing a paycheck, and wondering why their rallies were empty.
The "crutch" of guaranteed seats ends in 2026. This isn't a crisis; it’s a market correction. In any other industry, if a firm produced a product that 99% of consumers rejected, that firm would go bankrupt. In politics, we call it "voter disenfranchisement." It’s time to call it what it is: a failed startup.
Why the Disappearance of Comunes Strengthens the Left
There is a pervasive fear that if the FARC’s party dies, the Colombian Left dies with it. This is arguably the most backwards take in Latin American politics today.
The FARC has been a millstone around the neck of the legitimate Colombian Left for fifty years. Every time a progressive politician proposed a tax hike or a social safety net, the Right-wing establishment just pointed at the FARC and said, "See? They want to turn us into Venezuela." The FARC was the ultimate "boogeyman" that allowed the status quo to avoid actual debate.
By failing electorally, the FARC is finally removing themselves from the equation. Gustavo Petro’s rise to the presidency wasn't because of the FARC; it was in spite of them. He had to spend half his campaign proving he wasn't a puppet for the guerrillas.
If the Comunes party disappears in 2026, the Left finally gets to shed the "terrorist" baggage. It forces the movement to professionalize. It forces them to find candidates who haven't spent the last thirty years in a camo uniform.
The "Blood and Soil" Problem
Let’s look at the data the competitor missed. In the 2022 legislative elections, the Comunes party received roughly 50,000 votes for the Senate. In a country of 50 million people. That isn't just a loss; it’s a rounding error.
Even in the "PDET" municipalities—the areas most affected by the conflict where the government set up special seats—the Comunes didn't dominate. The people who suffered the most under the FARC’s "protection" are the ones least likely to vote for them. That is the brutal irony the ivory-tower analysts refuse to acknowledge.
If you want to understand why they are failing, look at their internal structure. It’s still a hierarchy of "Comandantes." They haven't democratized their own party, so why should the public believe they want to democratize the country? They are a relic of the Cold War trying to operate in a TikTok world.
The Inevitable splintering
The "consensus" warns that if the party fails, the ex-combatants will return to the hills. This is a misunderstanding of how insurgency works in 2026.
The people going back to the jungle aren't doing it because the Comunes lost an election. They’re doing it because the price of cocaine is high and the "dissident" groups (EMC and Segunda Marquetalia) pay better than a government reintegration stipend. It’s an economic decision, not a political one.
Saving a failing political party won't stop a 22-year-old with an AK-47 from guarding a coca lab. Those are two separate problems. Treating the Comunes as a "firewall" against violence is like trying to put out a forest fire by spraying a single tree. It’s optics, not strategy.
Stop Subsidizing Failure
The international community needs to stop treating the Comunes like a protected species. If they want to survive, they need to merge. They need to dissolve their brand and fold into a broader coalition like the Pacto Histórico.
But they won't do that. Why? Because the current leadership doesn't want to lose their "guaranteed" status. They would rather rule over a graveyard than be a junior partner in a thriving coalition.
We need to stop asking "How can we save the FARC party?" and start asking "Why should we?" If the goal of the peace process was to move the conflict from the battlefield to the ballot box, then the mission is accomplished. The ballot box has spoken. The verdict is: "No, thank you."
The extinction of the Comunes party is a victory for the victims who were told for years that the FARC was their only voice. It’s a victory for the Colombian Left, which can finally stop apologizing for crimes they didn't commit. And it’s a victory for democracy, proving that you cannot force a nation to love those who spent decades breaking it.
The FARC is dead. Long live the peace.
Stop mourning a corpse and start watching the real players. Democracy is messy, and sometimes, the best thing a party can do for its country is disappear.
