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Although created as a decidedly right-wing party, its members now come from a wide range of political backgrounds, including former politicians of the right-wing Conservative Party, the center-right Social Party of National Unity, and from the left-wing Alternative Democratic Pole, such as Senator Everth Bustamante.[17]
The party is a strong advocate of economic liberalism. It intends to lower corporate taxation and further liberalise the economy in order to attract international investors, particularly to promote the exploitation of natural resources. On international policy issues, the party is pro-American.
With President Duque's unpopularity rate reaching 70%, the government was faced with the largest demonstrations in the country's history from 2019 onwards. The demonstrators intend to denounce the government's plans to make the labour market more flexible, to weaken the public pension fund in favour of private entities, and to raise the retirement age. The unions are also protesting against the tax reform, which aims to reduce the taxes paid by companies, and against the privatisations under way.[19]Another massive protest movement took place in 2021.
In the 2014 presidential election, the Democratic Centre chose Óscar Iván Zuluaga, the Senator and Finance Minister during the Uribe Administration, as its presidential nominee. Zuluaga won the first round, but subsequently lost the second round to incumbent President Santos.[20]
Despite the second round loss, the electoral performance in both congressional and presidential elections provided the Democratic Centre with a platform to establish itself as the major opposition party in Colombia. The party has since taken steps to improve its political infrastructure given that it lagged in funding and party organisation compared to more traditional political parties.