Foundation , Chairman of the MIRA party The MIRA party was created in 2000 by Carlos Alberto Baena and Alexandra Moreno Piraquive, being elected as party Chairman and Vice chairwoman, respectively. On 20 June of the same year, they requested legal recognition of the party by the National Electoral Council of Colombia, which they obtained on 26 July under the name "Independent Movement of Absolute Renovation".
First elections The first elections in which the MIRA party participated were the regional elections of 28 October 2000. In Bogota D.C., Carlos Alberto Baena was elected
councillor thanks to 20,701 votes. In the
Quindío department, the economist Bernardo Valencia Cardona was elected
deputy. In the
Risaralda department, Martha Cecilia Alzate was elected deputy. Besides, the party obtained councillors in several municipalities and seats in several Local Administrative Units. In total, the party obtained 53
curule seats, becoming the 18th political force in the Colombian politic spectrum. Two years later, in the
parliamentary elections of 2002, Alexandra Moreno Piraquive gets 81,061 votes, the highest number of votes reached by a woman running for senator in that period, and becomes senator of the Republic of Colombia.
Chairmanship of Alexandra Moreno , Former Senator of Colombia On 26 October 2003, the MIRA party participated in the parliamentary elections and kept Baena's position as councillor thanks to 24,277 votes and the position of Bernardo Valencia as deputy of the Assembly of Quindío thanks to 10,743 votes. The party also obtained 84 curule seats, included 10 councillor curule seats. In this period, Alexandra Moreno assumed the chairmanship of the party. On 12 March 2006, the MIRA party obtained 237,512 votes in the
parliamentary elections, which was over the 2% minimum threshold necessary to keep legal recognition in the country. As a result, Alexandra Moreno kept her seat as senator and
Manuel Antonio Virgüez obtains a seat as senator. At the same time,
Gloria Stella Díaz is elected as representative for Bogota thanks to 52,713 votes. After this results, the MIRA party became the ninth political force in Colombia. In the regional elections of 2007, the MIRA party obtained for the first time a mayorship. Carlos Enrique López was elected as mayor of the
Calarcá municipality in the Quindío department. Martha Liliana Agudelo, Martha Cecilia Alzate and Guillermina Bravo Montaño were elected as deputies of the Quindío, Risaralda and
Valle del Cauca departments, respectively. Besides, the MIRA party obtained 35 councillors and 265 other curule seats.
Second Chairmanship of Carlos Alberto Baena Carlos Alberto Baena is re-elected as party Chairman and Manuel Antonio Virgüez is elected as Vice chairman in 2008. In 2009 the party participated in the popular consultation done on 27 September to select its candidates to the Congress of Colombia. In that opportunity, the party surpassed the expected votation of 80,000 votes and obtained over 205,000, 19,397 of which were given by youngsters between 14 and 18 years old. This popular consultation was the first which allowed the participation of under-age people. In the
2010 parliamentary elections, the MIRA party obtained 324,109 votes. As a result, the party got four curule seats in the Congress of Colombia and Carlos Alberto Baena was elected to be senator. In the presidential elections of the same year, the MIRA party did not present a candidate to run for the presidency of Colombia nor supported any of the other parties´candidates. In the 2010 parliamentary elections, the MIRA party applied the zip system to their lists of candidates for the first time, which allowed it to have the same percentage of female and male candidates. In March 2011, Marisol Moreno was elected as Vice chairwoman and Ana Belsú Rodríguez was elected as secretary general. In the regional elections of October 2011, the MIRA party obtained the
governorate of the
Caquetá department, the mayorship of the
El Paujil municipality, seven deputies, 47 councillors and over 300 other curule seats. Later on, in an atypical election done on 29 January 2012. the party obtained 10 additional curule seats. In the 2012 popular consultation, the MIRA party obtained the highest votation among the participating political parties and groups thanks to 284,869 votes. For the
2014 parliamentary elections, the party has defined a closed list of candidates to the Senate and has decided not to run for the Andean Parliament elections neither to participate in the popular consultation. The party also decided not to present a candidate for the 2014 presidential elections nor to support any other presidential candidate. ==Organizational structure==