Team matches for Colombia have mixed visions about the counting of votes

On Tuesday, March 22, Colombia's national registrar, Alexander Vega, was going to propose to the National Commission on Electoral Guarantees the counting of votes in the legislative elections, a proposal unprecedented in the country's history, with the aim of clearing doubts about the electoral process that has been heavily questioned by several sectors.

The proposal, which was supported by President Iván Duque, prompted by multiple allegations and indications of irregularities in the pre-counting of votes, was ultimately not submitted to the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the other electoral authorities, “to the peace of mind of the political forces,” the registrar argued national, who has been in the public arena for the last week due to the failures evidenced in the elections.

However, before the decision of the National Civil Registry to recall in the presentation of the proposal for the pre-count was known, several communities and sectors of the country contrasted positions in favor of and against this measure with the aim of giving “transparency and legitimacy” to the election day in which the formation of the new Congress was defined.

This was the case of the Team for Colombia, the right-wing coalition that defined at the polls the unique candidacy of the former mayor of Medellín, Federico 'Fico' Gutiérrez, as the candidate who will compete in the first presidential round, in which, despite showing cohesion during the election campaign, he had mixed visions of the vote count proposed by the Registrar's Office.

For her part, the former governor of Valle del Cauca and director of the U Party, Dilian Francisca Toro, who was the first to join the right-wing alliance ahead of the legislative elections, acknowledged her support for the proposal of the general recount supported by the president, calling for “trust in institutions” .

“Firstly, as stated by the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM), I am convinced that there was no fraud in last Sunday's elections and that ours is a properly functioning electoral system. All this state of affairs that have generated distress among citizens comes from errors in data transmission and what we must do is trust the mechanisms that our electoral system has, which historically have demonstrated effectiveness and transparency,” said the electoral baroness of Valle del Cauca.

In this regard, he noted that while the recount, which he assured agreed to “serve the ultimate purpose of democracy: maintaining the trust of citizens in the system”, was a legal possibility, it must be ensured that logistically it is a reality that preserves legal and transparency.

However, the Mira party, a Christian community that is also part of this coalition that stands as the contender of the left-wing alliance led by opposition leader Gustavo Petro, shared a statement in which it argued that “it was not appropriate or pertinent” to carry out a general account of the votes, contrasting the stance of the Party Director of the U.

“The counting has been advanced in accordance with the procedure established in the current Electoral Code, which, although obsolete, offers guarantees by having bodies with competence to consolidate the results of the auxiliary, zonal, municipal and district counting commissions. At the same time, the judicious work of the tellers (judges and notaries) who offered the guarantees and dealt with the complaints that were submitted is highlighted,” said the evangelical party.

The contrasts in the positions against the recount, which would have been cleared in the Team for Colombia, when the proposal was not submitted will continue to affect the legitimacy of the legislative elections and the formation of the new Congress, weaving a blanket of doubts about the first presidential round to be held on May 29.

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