MOE denounced the possible political participation of the mayor of Ibagué in the elections: “I identify myself...

After election day on Sunday, March 13, the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) presented one against the mayor of Ibagué, Andrés Fabian Hurtado, to the Attorney General's Office. According to the entity responsible for monitoring and reporting irregularities during election days, the local president had political participation last Sunday.

It should be noted that when elections are taking place in the country, there are several restrictions for both candidates, their campaign teams and other public officials, to prevent their actions from influencing the decisions that voters will make that day. That is why the EOM considers it a fault that Mayor Hurtado gave two interviews on March 13.

According to the EOM, in the two statements that the president gave to the media, he said that he was supporting the Team for Colombia Coalition, specifically the winning candidate, Federico Gutiérrez. The words of Hurtado, according to the entity, were: “you know that I am going to vote for the presidential consultation of Equipo for Colombia, I identify myself with all the proposals that are in favor of moving our country forward”.

Words he repeated in a second interview in which several media outlets were present. “I identify myself with the Team for Colombia, of those who have done of course for this country, there we will be advancing our fundamental right to vote,” said the mayor of Ibagué minutes before entering his polling place in an educational institution in the capital of Tolima.

In addition to Fico Gutiérrez, now presidential candidate, David Barguil, Enrique Peñalosa, Álex Char and Aydeé Lizarazo were also part of the Team for Colombia coalition.

For the EOM, these statements by Hurtado, on the same day that the elections were taking place, are a clear expression of inappropriate and improper political participation. For this reason, he lodged the complaint to the Attorney General's Office so that it is the one that corroborates whether the president participated in politics on March 13.

If so, Mayor Andrés Hurtado would have gone against the rules that state that public servants cannot take part in the activities of parties and movements or in disputes involving them.

Cristian Martínez, coordinator of the EOM in Tolima, said that “we received it and sent it directly to the Attorney General's Office. The Law says that public servants are prohibited from interfering in political processes; the mere fact of pronouncing for or against a party, as it generates imbalance.”

After this complaint, on Blu Radio, it was revealed that the Attorney General's Office opened a preliminary investigation against the mayor of Ibagué, Andrés Hurtado, precisely because of his alleged political participation.

Previously, some opponents of Mayor Hurtado had already been alerted to this situation, who questioned whether a Fico Gutiérrez event had taken place a few meters from the Municipal Palace. Likewise, for the active participation of his sister Carolina, his wife Leidy Galeano and a group of citizens who call themselves' hurtadistas' in the event of the former mayor of Medellín.

For its part, the regional newspaper El Olfato consulted the situation with sources from the Attorney General's Office, who told them that “no public official, let alone the mayor of a departmental capital, can participate or influence the current presidential elections.”

Finally, the candidate for whom the mayor voted was the winner of the consultation. Fico Gutiérrez won with 54.18%, the equivalent of 2,160,329 votes. Alex Char followed with 17.72%; David Barguil, 15.78%; Aydeé Lizarazo, 6.15% and Enrique Peñalosa 5.80%.

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