“More failures of Iván Duque”: reactions of the political world to the Court's decision to overthrow the new Electoral Code

On Thursday, April 21, the Constitutional Court of Colombia overturned the new Electoral Code proposed by the Registrar General, Alexander Vega, and which had been approved by Congress at the end of 2020, showing that serious errors had been made in the processing of this law, which had been strongly questioned by experts.

With a vote of six votes in favor and three against, the Full Chamber of the high court concluded that procedural defects had occurred in the approval of this new code that established new rules for the electoral process in the country, because it was of a statutory nature, which is why it could not be approved in extra sessions in the Congress.

This decision of the Constitutional Court generated a series of reactions in the political country, in which some officials expressed their support for the decision of the high court and others defended this project promoted by Registrar Vega, who could be suspended from office after the Court of Cundinamarca admitted a popular action which seeks to remove him from office for questioning in legislative elections.

“As rapporteur coordinator of the Electoral Code, it is a shame that the Constitutional Court did not give it life. With it, we could stop the buying of votes, the misuse of witnesses, juries, software, polls, scrutiny, etc. Bandits must be happy,” said Senator and member of the Historical Covenant, Armando Benedetti.

For her part, the representative of the House and former candidate for the vice-presidency of Colombia, Angela María Robledo, asserted that this decision was another failure of President Iván Duque and that she was accompanied by registrar Alexander Vega, noting that she had been warned at the time, a message that coincides with that of Congresswoman María José Pizarro, who pointed out that passing this law in extraordinary sessions and as a reform is “unconstitutional”.

For her part, the former FARC combatant and parliamentarian of the Commons Party, Sandra Ramírez, asserted that “playing dirty” was what the registrar and Congress had done when they approved the Electoral Code “to the kicks and outside of all norms”, indicating that it was “appalling that the majorities of Congress were just a committee of applause.”

“The most embarrassing thing about Alex Vega's #CódigoElectoral that just fell, is that Congress, totally warned that he could not process this statutory law by video call, did so. The next reform that must be dropped, with the same argument, is that of the Attorney General's Office,” said Senator-elect of the Green Party Cathy Juvinao.

Likewise, the former minister and member of the Centro Esperanza Coalition Juan Fernando Cristo indicated that since the adoption of this law it was known that it was an irregular procedure, because it had been in “extras and virtual”, when it had to be in ordinary sessions of the same period and in person, “what a waste of effort and time in that Congress. Doesn't anyone answer?”

“I respect and abide by the decisions of the Constitutional Court, but in the case of the Electoral Code, for which I was rapporteur, he immensely regretted that with its declaration of inexequibility, gender parity, which we proposed and for which we fought,” parliamentarian César Lorduy defended the project.

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