Former Medellín Mayor Daniel Quintero announced his withdrawal from the Historic Pact presidential referendum scheduled for October 26. The decision comes after the National Electoral Council (CNE) indicated that the ballots could not use the party's logo as it was an interparty referendum.

Through his X account, Quintero accused the organization and indicated that his departure is due to the legal risk that this adjustment would represent. "The CNE killed the consultation of the Historic Pact by converting it, against our will, into an interparty consultation", he indicated.

According to his statements,"the establishment wants to prevent us from participating in a large broad front on March 9" and he added that "we are not going to fall into the trap." 

What the former mayor of Medellín is referring to is that if he participates on October 26, he will then be unable to participate in the Frente Amplio referendum in March.

"If the consultation is interpreted as the selection of a presidential candidate, the result would be mandatory according to article 7 of Law 1475 of 2011. In this case, the winner could not participate later in another inter-party consultation, because that would constitute double militancy or non-compliance with a mandatory popular decision", the concept in question states.

In a subsequent tweet, Quintero indicated that he submitted his formal withdrawal request to the Registry, emphasizing that his participation was taking place within the framework of a partisan consultation and under the rules agreed upon with the other pre-candidates."The process has undergone a substantial change in rules, as it has now become an inter-party consultation, which completely alters the legal and political conditions under which I made the commitment to participate," the petition states.

Along those lines, he also requested that, if the process continues, the votes in his name not be counted."We're going to next year's elections. We're going to reset politics," he concluded.

I have officially requested from the Registry that if the irregular consultation goes ahead, my votes not be counted by the juries throughout the country. We're going to next year's elections. We're going to reset politics.

— Daniel Quintero 🇨🇴 (@QuinteroCalle) October 15, 2025

Through his social media accounts, President Gustavo Petro addressed the CNE's decision on the referendum.

The president assured that