Registrar confirmed that there will be a new jury draw for the presidential elections in May

National Registrar Alexander Vega, questioned by the multiple irregularities that occurred in the March 13 elections, announced changes for this coming Sunday, May 29, the day where presidential votes will take place.

Vega reported that a change will be generated in the E-14 forms, which led to the scandal in the pre-counting and counting scandal, and also mentioned that changes will be made about the voting juries and the training that will be given to them.

“We are going to make a new draw with much more in-depth training and we will ensure that no table is homogeneous in the country, they will be heterogeneous, and we will vary the application sectors, prioritizing that of political parties, which will have every guarantee to nominate their candidates for voting juries” , mentioned registrar Vega.

He also commented on how to prevent irregularities from occurring, such as those denounced by the Historical Pact where several polling places did not present a single vote for this group, demonstrating failures in the juries or the Registrar's software.

“If there is any alarm that a candidate comes with zero votes, in real time we will audit and control so that juries not only include data, figures or votes well, but so that transmitters can read the information well,” said Registrar Vega.

Another situation that Vega emphasized was the possible change to the E-14 card, which would mark the blank spaces with an asterisk, thus avoiding suspected frauds such as those reported multiple times.

Some social media users have been dissatisfied with the way candidate Federico Gutiérrez, winner of the Team for Colombia consultation, is presented on the card of the first presidential round.

The natural name of the presidential candidate is Federico Andrés Gutiérrez Zuluaga. However, on the card it appears as “Fico Gutiérrez”, with his nickname instead of his first name and without his second surname. Before that, he had also appeared under his nickname on the card of the interparty consultation he won.

This would be the third time that Fico has appeared on a voter card. The first was when he ran for mayor in Medellín for the 2016-2019 period, a candidacy he won. On that occasion, their two names and surnames were included, as did those of the rest of the applicants.

Some people consider that allowing the candidate to appear under a nickname would be an advantage for him during the elections. So they wonder if it's legal for a candidate to use a trailer.

The truth is that, since the adoption of the current Electoral Code, all other candidates for the Presidency of the Republic have appeared on the card with at least one name and one surname that appears on their identity card.

Needless to say, when candidates register to participate with the registrar, they must present their identity document and it shows their real and full name, which is written on the form.

In addition, Law 62 of 1988, which imposed the most recent provision on the subject in the current Electoral Code, only says this about election cards for the President of the Republic:

In the election for President of the Republic, citizens will vote with electoral cards printed with the symbols, emblems and colors of the different political parties or movements participating in the voting, with clear printing of the name and surnames of the respective candidate.

Presidential candidates then register with emblems, names and surnames, and these must be printed on the card. However, there are no specific provisions on the use of trailers in this instance. Maybe it had never occurred to anyone before to use a nickname to win the presidency.

It should be clarified at this point that it is not true that the candidate's name should appear in full on the card and it has not always happened. In fact, the current card does not appear “Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego”, “Sergio Fajardo Valderrama” or “Luis Emilio Pérez Gutiérrez”.