Harassed by allegations of alleged fraud, the head of the electoral authority in Colombia announced this Monday that it will request a recount of the votes for the Senate from the elections of March 13.
“Due to the countless inconsistencies in the forms (…) I will request again tomorrow (Tuesday) the recount of all the tables of the Senate of the Republic”the national registrar, Alexander Vega, told the media.
In the last week, Vega has been the target of strong criticism from the country’s main political forces who denounce an alleged fraud in the vote.
On the one hand, the presidential candidate and former guerrilla Gustavo Petro has pointed out that in the pre-count of March 13 supposedly some 500,000 votes were not taken into account for the leftist candidates for the Senate and the Lower House.
Petro heads the Historical Pact, a coalition of leftist movements which achieved a historic bench of more than 40 parliamentarians, although the result could be higher.
Faced with this unprecedented advance, former right-wing president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), at the head of the ruling Democratic Center, questioned the “overwhelming vote of Petrismo” in elections that “leave all mistrust.”
Uribe, whose party went from having 51 to 30 seats in the legislature, called to ignore the results and asked for a recount.
“We are going to leave the country alone and all the political forces,” said Vega.
Petro was alarmed by the decision and slipped without evidence that a deception could be brewing in favor of Uribe:
“At this time they may be filling the ballot bags (…) There is no transparent chain of custody over the votes already counted,” the current senator wrote on Twitter, demanding that the “international oversight bodies” act “promptly.”
I suspend my presence in electoral debates until the transparency of the vote is guaranteed.
We will act with maximum prudence and we ask the international oversight agencies to act promptly.
At this time there is no transparent chain of custody over the votes already counted.
– Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) March 21, 2022
The registrar acknowledged that there were “human errors” on the part of the electoral juries, who made “constant cross-outs on the form” where the results of each table are recorded, generating “inaccuracies.”
The NGO Electoral Observation Mission has criticized the lack of training for those responsible for counting the votes prior to the elections, while delegates from the European Union pointed out flaws in the design of the formats.
Vega denied that it is a systematic practice. “No votes have been lost, this is not a malicious act,” he concluded.
On May 29, Colombians will elect the successor to President Iván Duque, in an election in which Petro is the overwhelming favorite to be the country’s first leftist president. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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