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Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 28 May 2006. Álvaro Uribe was re elected as President for another four year term, starting on 7 August 2006. Uribe obtained 62.35% of the vote, surpassing the 50% needed to avoid a runoff against the second placed candidate. Following a constitutional amendment enacted by the government, this was the first occasion in over 100 years that a Colombian president was eligible for immediate re election.

Traditionally, Colombian politics have been dominated by two major political parties: the Colombian Conservative Party and the Colombian Liberal Party. However, 2002 presidential candidate Álvaro Uribe broke with precedent by splintering from the Liberal Party and campaigning as an independent under the unrecognized party, Colombia First. Due in part to declining public support for dialogue with FARC following president Andrés Pastrana Arango's failed ceasefire agreement, Uribe gained an edge over his liberal opponent, Horacio Serpa. Colombia is a presidential republic wherein a president is elected by absolute majority vote in one or two rounds. Although the government of Colombia is separated into legislative, judicial, and executive branches, the President of Colombia serves as both the nation's head of state and head of government (as per the American model). Before 2005 and after a congressional vote in 2015, the president is prohibited from seeking reelection; however, a constitutional reform backed by incumbent president Álvaro Uribe suspended the term limit, allowing him to run for reelection in 2006.

Uribe's 2002 inauguration coincided with a fatal missile attack by FARC on the Casa de Nariño and surrounding Bogotá, leaving 13 dead. The president used the attack as pretext to enact a state of emergency, expanding the power of the military and establishing "special combat zones" around the country. Aside from colluding with right wing paramilitary groups and receiving military assistance from the United States, Uribe restricted the freedom of the foreign press; in 2004, the Committee to Protect Journalists ranked Colombia as the second most dangerous country for the media in the world (after Algeria). Starting in 2003, Uribe began extending offers of amnesty to members of the paramilitary coalition UAC in an effort to demobilize the group. His offer of short term prison sentences for human rights violators earned rebukes from both the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Inter American Commission on Human Rights. This effort for demobilization have been widely considered a failure. Despite the dissolution of the UAC, the emergence of new right wing paramilitary groups, known collectively as The Black Eagles, has resulted in the continuation of atrocities against civilians and human rights workers (including torture, rape, extortion, and murder) in what has been described as a recycling of paramilitarism. Cooperation between the Government of Colombia, the United States, and anti leftist paramilitaries had been occurring since 1962, primarily to combat FARC and the National Liberation Army (see Plan LAZO, Alianza Americana Anticomunista, Peasant Self Defenders of Córdoba and Urabá, Los Pepes, and CONVIVIR). In many cases, these connections directly linked government officials to extreme paramilitary violence; in the 1997 Mapiripán Massacre dozens of civilians were mutilated by UAC paramilitaries with the cooperation of the National Army of Colombia through omission (specifically under the orders of U. S. trained Colonel Lino Sánchez). The military was also implicated in participating in and assisting paramilitaries in the 2001 Alto Naya massacre and the 2003 Betoyes Massacre, in the latter instance disguising themselves as members of the UAC.

On November 9, 2006, the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia ordered the arrest of three congressmen accused of collaborating with the UAC, with dozens more to follow (including many of Uribe's allies and his cousin Mario Uribe Escobar).

The original Plan Colombia was proposed by president Andrés Pastrana Arango in 1999 as a "Marshall Plan for Colombia", suggesting increased developmental investment by developed countries to offer peasants an alternative means of income to coca planting. Rather than fumigation or increased military aid, Pastrana proposed the manual eradication of crops as more effective. U. S. president Bill Clinton offered to financially support the plan, the result of which was the plan's total revision by the United States. The final version of the plan was written entirely in English (not to be translated into Spanish until months after it had taken effect).

In 2006, Freedom House upgraded Colombia's political rights and civil liberties ratings from 4 to 3, due to improving citizen security, increasing freedom of the press, and declining perceptions of government corruption. Despite this, the rise of press lawsuits as an alternative form of intimidation has been cited as a threat to free journalism in the country.

Álvaro Uribe was notable for his hardline stance against leftist insurgent groups, initially advocating against any concessions and negotiations with groups such as FARC, and for greater military action, and economic and infrastructure development. His actions successfully weakened and fought back the leftist rebel groups, decreasing their territory and scope of control as well as removing their ability to govern great areas of land and even some urban areas. He controversially had negotiated agreements and passed laws granting amnesty to demobilized paramilitary groups, and was referred to by some opponents as "authoritarian." However, his ability to improve the security and economic situation of the country made him overall popular.

Having earned a law degree from Universidad de Antioquia and a postgraduate degree in Management and Administration from Harvard university, Uribe became a civil servant by the age of 24. He was appointed Secretary General of the Labor Ministry by 1977–8. Afterwards Uribe lead the Civil Aviation Ministry from 1980–2, and was elected to be the mayor and later a city council member of Medellin from 1982–6. He was elected Senator from 1986–1990, under which he won the Star Senator, Senator with the Best Programs and Best Senator awards. From 1995 7 Uribe was elected governor of Antioquia. During his tenure, he developed a method of civil participation called the Community State. His actions led to around a third of government jobs and official vehicle use to be cut, the funding allocated instead to educating 103,000 new students. Uribe's decisions lead to 939 km of new roads to be paved, as well as existing highways to be repaired. Kidnappings dropped 60% under his tenure. From 1998–1999, Uribe was an associate professor at Oxford University. Up until this point, Uribe ran and served as elected officials under the Liberal Party. The books The Lord of Shadows by Newsweek journalist, Joseph Contreras, and The Horsemen of Cocaine, by Fernando Garavito and Fabio Castillo, accuse Uribe of having granted known drug traffickers licences to fly when working in the Civil Aviation Ministry. The United States State Department in a 1991 report referred to Uribe as "Pablo Escobar’s close friend" as well as linked Uribe's father, Alberto Uribe to drug trafficking groups and paramilitaries. Alberto, Álvero's father was a known friend of Pablo Escobar and mafia boss Fabio Ochoa. In 1983, Alberto was assassinated by FARC rebels at his estate, after which Alvaro sold off the property and dedicated himself to politics. However, Mary Beth Long, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics, in a 2004 opinion letter to the New York Times claimed that allegations of links between Alvaro and the Medellin drug cartel or Pablo Escobar from 1991 were never substantiated. As governor of Antioquia, Uribe held known contacts with the paramilitary group the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the goal of which was fighting leftist insurgents. His Community State plan involved arming and involving civilians in efforts against rebel groups, a strategy largely credited with drastically reducing kidnapping rates. At the same time, the national program CONVIVIR, which Uribe supported and enacted in his state, gained controversy for creating anti insurgency defense forces from known past paramilitaries who had committed atrocities against civilians. This was a turn away from his predecessor's (Andres Pastrana) strategy, which had negotiated a peace deal that had allowed for a demilitarized zone the leftist FARC rebels had used for hiding hostages, drug trafficking and planning military campaigns in the rest of the country. Uribe was a lifelong member of the Liberal Party—even participating in the Liberal Youth and the Liberal militants before his political career began—until 2002 election when he split from the party due to its support of peace talks with the FARC. In this election, Uribe had the support of the Conservative Party (which had supported him and not run its own candidate in 2002 as well). The parties Radical Change, Team Wings Colombia, Citizen Convergence, Democratic Colombia and Colombia Viva also supported Uribe. Gaviria's political philosophy centered on the autonomy, dignity, and individual freedoms of citizens, so long as one's choiced did not interfere with others’. A consequence of this philosophy was the belief that poverty and lack of public debate prevented individuals from truly being able to govern their lives and prevented Colombia from being a true democracy.

As senator and throughout the campaign, Gaviria promoted redistribution policies that lead to more material equality, and fairer treatment of marginalized groups such as LGBT, indigenous, female, and Afro Colombians. He advocated for peace initiatives that worked through strengthening employment, cultural development, and education as well as through negotiated peace talks with rebel groups. In congress he fought president Uribe on tax reform, re election, and policies seen as redistributive to the rich. Several controversies arose between Gaviria and Uribe during the campaign. First is the release of a report that Gaviria had the largest pension of any government official. Many facts underlying in this claim were proven to be incorrect, mainly that Gaviria did not receive a pension being an acting senator, that the program alleged to give him this pension was also not the pension program he would be under as a former magistrate and that the peso amount his pension would be does not align with the claim from the report. Gaviria and the Alternative Democratic Pole accused Uribe of releasing false and purposefully malicious information to attack him, calling the allegations "actions of a dirty war" by Uribe's campaign. Later, Uribe called Gaviria a "communist in disguise" who will hand Colombia to the FARC, leading Gaviria to denounce these words and strategy of campaigning. Gaviria unapologetically called himself a pure liberal and claimed he will not change his positions of negotiating peace with the FARC as well as decriminalizing abortion, gay marriage, and possession of a personal dose of drugs. Amid these controversies, American academics, journalists and foreign policy experts, including Noam Chomsky signed a letter to president Uribe asking him to denounce the AUC's assassination threats to Gaviria as well as apologize for calling Gaviria a communist in disguise, claiming that the Colombian government was failing to provide necessary guarantees (such as safety) to candidates. Elected to Senate in 1986 also under the Liberal Party. From 1988–1996, he was appointed to positions Procurator and Minister of Government under president Virgilio Barco, co president of the National Constituent Assembly, peace negotiator in eventually failed talks with the EPL, and Co President of the National Constituent Assembly under president César Gaviria, as well as Minister of Government under president Ernesto Samper. In this last position, he transformed the Ministry of Government into the Ministry of the Interior. He had served on both Barco and Samper's campaigns. Sometimes between these positions he would be elected and serve as senator. In the "Process 8,000" scandal in which it was revealed Samper's allies paid money to the Cali Cartel to support his election, Serpa was one of Samper's staunchest defender, claiming the president had no knowledge of the incidents. He convinced the senate not to indict Samper, and was not indicted for any crimes himself. As mayor, he gained much notoriety and publicity for the symbolic acts he took to change society and behavior, such as making a commercial of him taking a shower and turning off the water when using soap during a drought. In two months water usage dropped 14%, and eventually dropped 40%. He created a voluntary tax at a rate 10% higher, which 63 thousand people willingly paid. To peacefully address the unpopularity of the city's chaotic streets, he walked the streets in a costume and a cape as the hero "Supercitizen", handed citizens thumbs up and thumbs down cards for them to display in response to the behavior of those around them, and trained originally 20 but eventually 420 mimes to follow and mock pedestrians who did not follow traffic rules. Mockus emphasizes respect for human rights, development of democracy and most of all the protection and respect for the constitution as what should unite Colombians the most. He argued that taxes could distribute wealth more fairly, that the state should be present in all territories and help ensure compliance and respect for the law as well as be able to function in providing necessary services. He argued income taxes should increase to pay for an increase in funding for education and culture. Carlos Arturo Rincón Barreto received the fewest votes, less than one fifth of a percent.

Major subjects debated during the election included the extradition and demilitarization of private military groups, drugs and crime, corruption, refugees, the economy, and the reelection itself. As the incumbent president, Uribe was a dissident liberal with an independent, anti guerrilla, anti crime, pro U. S. platform that appealed to Conservatives and a significant number of traditionally liberal voters. This split the Liberal party and, according to Freedom House, led to a shift in party politics away from the typical Conservative Liberal dichotomy as Congress re aligned respectively as essentially pro and anti Uribe forces. Critics of Uribe claimed he neglected social policies. Despite criticism, polls predicted Uribe's reelection. Former President (and head of the Liberal party) Cesar Gaviria's daughter Liliana Gaviria was murdered on 27 April 2005, leading to an increase of security forces in Bogota and throughout the country. FARC guerrillas did not aim to disrupt the elections and instead called on Colombians to vote against Uribe. All candidates prioritized lowering unemployment rates (around 13% at the time). In his first term, Uribe proposed a free trade agreement with the United States, which other candidates strongly opposed. Colombia continued to be a dangerous country for journalists, especially those who reported on corruption or drug trafficking.

Owing to judicial reform and improvements in citizen security (increasing domestic military presence, declining homicide and kidnapping rates) President Alvaro Uribe Velez retained his popularity before and during the 2006 election. Prior to the election, Uribe campaigned for Colombia's Constitutional Court to overturn the single term limit and allow him to run for reelection. The campaign for reelection was marked by scandal when in October, 2005 members of the Constitutional Court publicly accused each other of accepting bribes to vote in Uribe's favor. The Court upheld its verdict in November. He won the majority of the vote in 32 out of 34 provinces, including 6 wins with more than 70% of the regional vote (Antioquia, Casanare, Cundinamarca, Huila, Meta, and Risaralda). Carlos Gaviria Díaz came second, with 22.03% of the total vote, and won regionally in 2 out of 34 provinces (Narino and La Guajira). Horacio Serpa came in third place, with 11.84% of the total vote, and no regional wins.

DepartmentUribeGaviriaSerpaMockusPajeroLeyvaRincónBlank votes Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %Amazonas4,96741.75% 3,859 32.44% 2,651 22.28% 92 0.77% 110 0.92% 53 0.45% 32 0.27% 133 1.11%Antioquia1,108,08571.10% 279,775 17.95% 109,187 7.01% 12,624 0.81% 4,891 0.31% 2,534 0.16% 1,965 0.13% 39,330 2.52%Arauca30,87866.42% 12,023 25.86% 2,168 4.66% 210 0.45% 173 0.37% 78 0.17% 55 0.12% 907 1.95%Atlántico185,78642.14% 169,034 38.34% 77,056 17.48% 2,691 0.61% 1,465 0.33% 440 0.10% 234 0.05% 4,201 0.95%Bogotá1,396,15564.02% 502,341 23.03% 165,687 7.60% 65,645 3.01% 3,709 0.17% 1,666 0.08% 3,337 0.15% 42,284 1.94%Bolívar219,29859.45% 93,637 25.38% 47,209 12.80% 1,703 0.46% 2,031 0.55% 819 0.22% 445 0.12% 3,763 1.02%Boyacá269,26563.18% 81,458 19.11% 58,811 13.80% 3,874 0.91% 2,148 0.50% 1,114 0.26% 1,630 0.38% 7,859 1.84%Caldas249,98170.40% 60,125 16.93% 29,513 8.31% 4,281 1.21% 1,261 0.36% 545 0.15% 498 0.14% 8,878 2.50%Caquetá43,27062.92% 19,422 28.24% 3,386 4.92% 358 0.52% 269 0.39% 183 0.27% 140 0.20% 1,737 2.53%Casanare78,46381.73% 8,954 9.33% 5,367 5.59% 485 0.51% 553 0.58% 244 0.25% 218 0.23% 1,716 1.79%Cauca121,12940.42% 108,698 36.27% 57,032 19.03% 3,439 1.15% 1,479 0.49% 755 0.25% 420 0.14% 6,756 2.25%Cesar184,57566.84% 41,181 18.53% 27,850 12.53% 518 0.23% 992 0.45% 335 0.15% 198 0.09% 2,633 1.18%Chocó35,52449.79% 9,255 12.97% 23,340 32.71% 183 0.26% 860 1.21% 540 0.76% 160 0.22% 1,491 2.09%Consulates/Abroad101,45984.17% 12,204 10.12% 2,866 2.38% 2,887 2.40% 150 0.12% 51 0.04% 76 0.06% 847 0.70Córdoba221,66158.48% 47,965 12.65% 101,105 26.68% 691 0.18% 3,127 0.83% 1,002 0.26% 561 0.15% 2,913 0.77%Cundinamarca517,29271.01% 131,100 18.00% 55,790 7.66% 6,561 0.90% 2,402 0.33% 1,075 0.15% 872 0.12% 13,353 1.83%Guainía2,37053.89% 1,358 30.88% 493 11.21% 41 0.93% 24 0.55% 12 0.27% 4 0.09% 96 2.18%Guaviare8,43762.77% 2,802 20.85% 1,371 10.20% 97 0.72% 106 0.79% 38 0.28% 37 0.28% 554 4.12%Huila197,74671.07% 52,337 18.81% 19,931 7.16% 1,709 0.60% 954 0.34% 399 0.14% 279 0.10% 4,875 1.75%La Guajira 42,610 39.8946,42743.46% 15,870 14.86% 220 0.21% 478 0.45% 217 0.20% 76 0.07% 927 0.87%Magdalena138,53756.35% 60,815 24.74% 40,739 16.57% 939 0.38% 1,629 0.66% 453 0.18% 231 0.09% 2,633 1.02%Meta156,58171.60% 42,923 19.63% 12,206 5.58% 2,105 0.96% 621 0.28% 293 0.13% 394 0.18% 3,575 1.63%Nariño 145,643 40.89%154,41343.36% 44,285 12.43% 1,828 0.51% 1,504 0.42% 668 0.19% 580 0.16% 7,222 2.03%Norte de Santander239,33467.37% 67,193 18.91% 36,221 10.20% 2,679 0.75% 1,372 0.39% 590 0.17% 440 0.12% 7,417 2.09%Putumayo22,88343.31% 21,099 38.26% 8,309 15.07% 219 0.40% 200 0.36% 129 0.23% 86 0.16% 1,223 2.22%Quindío132,89669.31% 35,128 18.32% 15,802 8.24% 2,237 1.17% 462 0.24% 196 0.10% 177 0.09% 4,853 2.53%Risaralda210,73872.62% 47,663 16.42% 20,418 7.04% 2,998 1.03% 1,134 0.39% 342 0.12% 356 0.12% 6,547 2.26%San Andrés and Providencia6,37554.01% 1,523 12.90% 3,603 30.52% 63 0.53% 47 0.40% 17 0.14% 10 0.08% 166 1.41%Santander 337,03950.96% 101,924 15.41% 198,605 30.03% 7,825 1.18% 2,373 0.36% 958 0.14% 520 0.08% 12,097 1.83%Sucre114,00951.73% 44,219 20.07% 55,826 25.79% 632 0.29% 2,018 0.92% 666 0.30% 227 0.10% 1,779 0.81%Tolima252,89565.08% 74,940 19.29% 46,933 12.08% 2,981 0.77% 1,523 0.39% 663 0.17% 358 0.09% 8,280 2.13%Valle del Cauca649,99560.15% 275,247 25.47% 112,106 10.37% 13,668 1.27% 2,505 0.23% 1,141 0.11% 755 0.07% 25,194 2.33%Vaupés2,24058.50% 720 18.80% 720 18.80% 38 0.99% 43 1.12% 24 0.63% 9 0.24% 35 0.91%Vichada4,71965.83% 1,395 19.46% 788 10.99% 42 0.59% 39 0.54% 23 0.32% 8 0.11% 155 2.16% Source: RNEC

The continuation of Uribe's Democratic Security policy led to further movement against the ELN and the FARC, including new anti terrorist and anti drug trafficking laws, increasing the power of the police. In 2008, Uribe was able to negotiate the release of Ingrid Betancourt, a high profile politician who was held as one of many hostages by the FARC. Strongly backed and supported financially by the US, the policy continued to combat Colombia's leftist Paramilitary groups. The project and its success led to Uribe receiving the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 for his efforts in this regard.

Events shortly after the 2006 elections marked the beginning of a years long process of addressing apparent paramilitary connections in government. In November 2006, a document was discovered connecting various members of Uribe's coalition ("uribistas") and the paramilitary group AUC, involving negotiations for votes and support. This document, the Ralito Agreement, was signed in a 2001 meeting by representatives of Paramilitary groups, and by 18 current and future politicians, who promised in it to "work toward a new Colombia" The resulting Colombian Parapolitics Scandal led to the investigation and arrest of many members of congress, including the former senator and cousin to the president (at the time) Mario Uribe. With this, despite demobilizing more than 30,000 paramilitary troops and eliciting a peace agreement with some of Colombia's various paramilitary groups through his first term as president, Uribe came under suspicion because of his cousin's ties to these events. He insisted, however, that he was not tied to these groups.

In 2015, 10 years after the limit on the number of terms served by a president was increased from one to two, congress voted to decrease it back to one. The first vote took place during Uribe's first presidential term (involving the bribing of Congresswoman Yidis Medina), allowing him to be the first of Colombia's presidents in more than 100 years to run for re election. His successor (and former defense minister), Juan Manuel Santos, was also able to run and be elected for a second term in 2014, However Santos (in his second term at the time) backed the change, to go into effect once he leaves office. Ex president Uribe, now a Senator with the Democratic Center party, objected to the reinstatement of the limit, but was outvoted.

Uribe continued to actively participate in politics on a local level after maxing out his time spent as president. He acted as a mentor of sorts to his successor at the presidency, Juan Manuel Santos. However, this bond was broken upon Santos' assumption of the presidency, and the discovery of various political disagreements. Uribe continued to run for offices such as governorships and mayoral positions, representing various conservative political parties in his endeavors. He was unsuccessful in winning these, however. He eventually began an anti Santos movement, which he called the Democratic Center Party. Finally, as a representative of the Democratic Center Party, he was able to win a position as a Senator in 2014.