EOM of the European Union in Colombia evidenced flaws in the design of the peace seats

This Tuesday, March 15, the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) of the European Union in Colombia presented the preliminary report of the legislative elections in the country that defined the formation of the new Congress of the Republic and the sole candidates of political coalitions for the first presidential round.

During the statement that was preceded by the MEP, Javi López, who serves as president of the European Union's EOM in the country, warned that the mission showed design flaws in the Special Transitional Peace Constituencies (CTEP), that is, the 16 seats in the House of Representatives that were reserved for victims of the armed conflict.

“We have detected design flaws, especially among those that stand out: l the exclusion of their geographical delimitation from the municipal capitals where many displaced persons live from conflict areas; as well as the funding of candidacies, due to the fact that there have been problems when it comes to applying it, because there are a mechanic with banking requirements; at the same time we recognize the efforts of the Government to build security schemes, but they are insufficient,” said the president of the European Union EOM in Colombia.

In turn, he indicated that the objective of these seats should be taken into account, which is why he invited the 16 victims' representatives to analyze “whether they meet the objective of the Peace Agreement”, statements that are linked to the victory of some candidates questioned because of their link with parapolitics such as Jorge Tovar, son of the former chief paramilitary Jorge 40, and others supported by traditional parties.

“Despite the effort to launch the elections for peace seats, we found infiltration of political parties and the impossibility of voting in the capitals. We regret the violence that the meeting of candidates and citizens of the peace constituencies,” said the MEP, Izaskun Bilbao.

Among other challenges encountered by the mission, failures were evident in the monitoring of the financing of political campaigns, detailing that it is “absolutely necessary” that the electoral and political systems have more efficient mechanisms for scrutiny and control of the revenues that these campaigns have in order to ensure that there are no resources that are not controlled.

In turn, he noted that the observer team showed signs of vote buying in some regions of the country, especially on the Atlantic coast and in the departments with the largest vulnerable population, including those voting for the Special Transitional Peace Constituencies (CTEP), indicating that this is something that is known in the country” as soon as there are legal proceedings in these cases and the legislators included offenses related to the buying and selling of votes.”

On the other hand, he stressed that election day took place peacefully in much of the national territory except for two terrorist attacks that cost the lives of two soldiers of the National Army in the departments of Meta and Caquetá, and noted that armed violence persists in part of the territory, limiting the the right of candidates to conduct campaigns and the right of citizens to vote.

In turn, he noted that the 120,000 polling stations, set up for these elections in the country, had a sufficient number of juries, mostly young people, evidencing a “transparent and efficient” voting and counting process, statements that contrast with some complaints from citizens and the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) that alerted irregularities and tampering with the E14 forms.

“The National Registry of Civil Status has demonstrated a high level of professionalism, typical of a consolidated institution in the country. With a long history in organizing elections. I want to emphasize that the entity increased voting positions, which is good news for the country. It must be said that in parts of the country they were able to vote for the first time and that is thanks to the Peace Agreement,” said the co-president of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly.

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