“The pre-count is merely informative”: the national registrar ruled on alleged irregularities in the counting of votes

After the legislative elections last Sunday, March 13, the pre-counting of votes caused a bitter feeling among different political forces in the country, as they have denounced irregularities during the process, which they claim have caused them to lose seats in the Congress of the Republic. In this regard, in dialogue with the newspaper El Tiempo, the national registrar, Alexander Vega, indicated that, for the time being, there can be no talk of fraud until the results have been recorded.

The national registrar began his interview with the Bogotá newspaper by noting that the results published so far are merely informative, and therefore indicated that in recent days the E-14 forms - documents recording the votes of each candidate or each political group - have been released, with the in order to prevent the talk of fraud in the electoral elections.

According to Vega in the middle, at court this Thursday the municipal ballots only reached 90%, which he explained means that, until the formal results are obtained, which according to him are expected to be ready between this Friday, March 18 and Saturday, March 19, you cannot have a real projection of how many seats each won. political party in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

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That implies, according to the official, that there could be changes in the number of seats each political force will occupy in Congress, due to the difference in results that were announced during the pre-count and the final results.

To give more clarity on this, the national registrar brought up during his interview with the Bogotá newspaper, the case of Colombia Justa Libres during the elections four years ago. According to Vega, the evangelical party did not appear with seats during the pre-count, however, he indicated that, with the final results of the count, they won four seats. For this reason, the official told the media that “one cannot compare scrutiny with the pre-count”.

You can also read: “Unofficially I can assure that we have recovered two seats”: Gustavo Bolivar

In this regard, Vega reiterated that, until the municipal count is over, there will be no idea what the Congress of the Republic will look like for the 2022-2026 periods. He also indicated that, not until the formal results are in place, that political parties will be able to make all the legal claims they consider relevant.

To date, among the political forces that have publicly denounced irregularities in the counting of votes, are: Historical Pact, Green Alliance, Soy Because Somos, Citizen Force and the Democratic Center.

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