After supporting the recount, President Iván Duque says it is sensible not to do so

The doubts of different parties regarding the election results were dealt with through the National Guarantees Commission, in which registrar Alexander Vega finally withdrew from submitting the request for a vote count. Although Ivan Duque had endorsed it and his Centro Democrático party remained firm in recounting the votes of the Senate; after the decision, the president called the results “sensible”.

“Yesterday we had a show of wisdom, where everyone in person, within the framework of the institutional framework, was able to present their points of view, and a consensus was forged that it could culminate by allowing the proceedings of challenge, which corresponds by law, and the processes of departmental scrutiny and then, of course, the final review by the National Electoral Council. All this is a message that this is the institutional framework where this must be processed and resolved,” said the president in an interview with the media Oye Cali.

It was in the midst of the Commission that the registrar finally claimed that he had submitted it to build trust, but if the majority does not support it, it will be accepted. “I don't feel defeated, I feel like a winner, that most parties don't accept my request because the point of honor is consensus and if that request served to generate consensus, it is satisfactory for the electoral process,” he said.

However, the request for a recount of the votes after the count remains in force in the Democratic Center, the ruling party. According to Nubia Stella Martínez, the director, as she explained in the Commission, they have more than 1,100 complaints of unregistered votes, and they agree with the other collectivities that there were errors and there is no confidence in the electoral process.

Hollman Ibáñez Parra, legal representative of the CD, said that based on paragraph 7 of the political constitution and because the counting committees are already closed, he said, they request a general recount of each and every one of the tables. Only National Salvation supported that possibility.

Although the CNE was going to consider the request, experts argue that there is no legal basis for conducting the general recount. In addition, representatives of the other parties that do not support the proposal argued that challenges should be used if irregularities arise, but not that atypical figure.

President Iván Duque, in dialogue with Oye Cali, assured that as a government they support institutionality and have accompanied the CNE and the previous and current registrar, respecting the independence of powers. However, the previous day he had supported the request for a recount.

“In view of the Electoral Guarantees Commission that will take place tomorrow and in order to give citizens confidence in the transparency of the electoral process, it is advisable to consider, on the part of the CNE, to move forward with a general recount in the election to the senate,” he said.

However, he welcomed the outcome of the commission. “We convened the electoral guarantees commission so that it was precisely there in the institutions and not in the networks where this could be addressed with sensible debate. Obviously, it was a good opportunity for everything to be put on the table, to put on the table those who were asking for a recount, to put on the table the response of the institutions to what happened and, above all, that it could also be ensured that the process of counting according to the law is carried out with all guarantees. ”, he told the Oye Cali radio station.

The president said that there is a need to “restore everyone's confidence in this process”, so he hopes that the count will be concluded in the National Electoral Council in order to “make the final balance and say exactly what the new composition of the Congress of the Republic is and on that basis - clarifying all doubts - we can continue in the process of a presidential election in which there is no doubt about the adequacy and capacity of the electoral system,” he said.

CNE Judge Pedro Felipe Gutiérrez assured that there is no clarity on how long the process will take, but clarified that it normally takes up to a few days before the congressmen's possession on July 20.

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