Politics
Colombia: Vote recount stopped amid fraud allegations
The National Registrar stated that he believed most parties were satisfied with the results of the electoral process and the scrutiny
March 22, 2022 7:33pm
Updated: March 23, 2022 3:59pm
Colombia’s National Registrar Alexander Vega announced on Tuesday that his office would not be requesting a recount of the votes cast during the legislative elections on March 13, acknowledging a crisis of confidence in the electoral organization due to complaints from several parties about uncounted votes.
During a meeting of the National Commission of Coordination and Follow-up of the Electoral Processes, the registrar stated that he believed most parties were satisfied with the results of the electoral process and the scrutiny that gave the left nearly 400,000 votes more than were originally announced on Sunday.
The meeting, convened by President Iván Duque, was attended by 19 political parties, the Registrar's Office and the National Electoral Council -- as well as the national government, control agencies and electoral observers.
But not everyone agreed with Vega's decision not to request a recount of votes for the Senate.
Lawyer Hollman Ibáñez, who was one of the spokespersons for Uribismo at the meeting, criticized the "disconnection of the parties with reality" in the face of the overwhelming majority against requesting a full recount of the votes.
If 98% of the departmental scrutiny commissions are closed, he wondered, where are the parties going to protest further irregularities?
"That gives us grounds to ask for the general recount of each and every one of the tables (...) There are enough tools for the general recount to be done,” he insisted.
— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) March 22, 2022
Senator Gustavo Petro, presidential candidate of the leftist Historical Pact and favorite to win the May 29 elections, assured that he will not attend more presidential debates until guarantees of electoral transparency are given.
A few days ago, the head of the Historical Pact's senate ticket, Gustavo Bolívar, asked for a "general recount of votes" in view of a possible "electoral fraud."
Bolivar asked all political sectors to come together and demand that the CNE open the 112,000 ballot boxes in order to give transparency to the electoral process.
Three days later, however, the senator changed his mind and now they consider that doing the recount again opens the door to the possibility of an alleged fraud, because it could recast the votes already found, which are counted by more than 600,000 and which gave three more seats in the Senate to the Colombian left.
Although the biggest discrepancies have occurred with the vote for the Senate, there are also discrepancies with the vote for the House of Representatives. The Registrar's Office expects to publish the results this week.
