The European Union and EOM reported voting purchases in the last elections held in Colombia.

The electoral authorities also questioned the mission in which new seats for victims of armed conflict were voted.

Guardar
Foto de archivo. Una mujer
Foto de archivo. Una mujer vota durante las elecciones legislativas en el municipio de Toribio, departamento del Cauca, Colombia, 9 de marzo, 2014. REUTERS/Jaime Saldarriaga

Complaints about the alleged purchase of votes and allegations of election fraud do not stop. In the past few hours, the same Election Observation Mission (EOM) of the European Union has shown how the legislative elections held on Sunday, March 13 and the presidential consultations were held last Sunday, March 13 Delivered the most recent report on progress.

According to the electoral agency led abroad by MEP Javi López, the day was spent peacefully, but unfortunately marked by an event that affected the transparency of the elections that defined the new legislator and three presidential candidates.

“Observers have found numerous signs of buying votes and have witnessed some cases, especially in departments with the largest vulnerable population, including the Atlantic coast area and the Peace Special Transitional District (Citrep),” Lopez said.

In addition, the implementation of Citreps indicated certain abnormalities, as reported by citizens living in places where constituencies in Colombia will rule, and figures related to electoral institutions.

“There were several design flaws in this implementation, among which they excluded the geographical division with the municipalities where many displaced people live in conflict areas,” the official in turn questioned the limited duration of these seats.

Izaskun Bilbao, head of the delegation to the European Parliament, talked about the first elections that allowed victims to enact legislation and assured that they were filtered out by “issues of security, funding and penetration of political parties and armed groups that made it difficult to achieve their goals.” They were conceived. Registering candidates with family relationships with known perpetrators was a subject of strong criticism.” He said.

Although the increase in women's elections in this election was not as expected, foreign lawmakers highlighted an increase in gender quotas.

Bilbao, who is confident that it will provide all guarantees and boundaries to ensure that the first presidential round on May 29 abroad can be carried out properly, explained that “the number of women in the House of Representatives has risen from 20% of the outgoing parliament to 29% of the parliament elected on Sunday.”

Although the number of votes registered by EOM has been recorded, the European territorial delegation highlighted the work of the National Register of Civil Status, which highlights the electoral education activities carried out in the last elections.

He also mentioned the work that was done to reduce invalid votes; however, in Colombia, unlike past elections, it has increased considerably. “In general, witnesses were able to observe the vote and take pictures of the results record without excessive restrictions. The introduction of a separate card significantly reduced the void turnout rate, and the Registrar's Office quickly published detailed preliminary results and scans of the results of the round table.” Lopez, who recalled the murder of police officers in the Meta and Caqueta departments before the voting day, said.

Keep reading:

.