1946 Colombian presidential election

This in turn sparked a ten-year civil war known as La Violencia.

An alternative historiography proposes as the start the Conservatives' return to power following the election of 1946.

Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 5 May 1946, pitching the Colombian Conservative Party against two different Colombian Liberal Party candidates.

Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 5 May 1946, pitching the Colombian Conservative Party against two different Colombian Liberal Party candidates. The Liberals received more votes combined, but due to their division the result was a victory for Mariano Ospina Pérez of the Conservative Party, who received 41.4% of the vote.

Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 5 May 1946, pitching the Colombian Conservative Party against two different Colombian Liberal Party candidates.

The Liberals received more votes combined, but due to their division the result was a victory for Mariano Ospina Pérez of the Conservative Party, who received 41.4% of the vote.

One of the Liberal candidates, Gabriel Turbay, was also supported by the Social Democratic Party.

One of the Liberal candidates, Gabriel Turbay, was also supported by the Social Democratic Party.

Two years after the election, the second Liberal Party candidate, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala, was assassinated.

Torres also argues in El Crimen del Siglo that evidence shows that Roa Sierra's family were supporters of Gaitán and that Roa Sierra himself very likely was a pro-Gaitán activist in the elections of 1946, which would have been the reason the police reportedly found in his house lots of campaign buttons with the face of the political leader.