Apathy was the predominant note in the election of the first Municipal and Local Youth Councils in Colombia in those that less than 15% of the young people between 14 and 28 years old qualified to participate in the new elections exercised their right to vote.
(Colombia opens an electoral day for young people).
With 91.53% of the polling stations informed, the National Registry of Civil Status, organizer of the elections, reported that only 1,144,313 of the 12,282,273 qualified young people voted.
The most voted list was that of the Liberal Party, with 91,527 votes, followed by the right-wing Conservative Party (69,085), Radical Change (55,780), U Party (52,507) and Democratic Center (40,421).
Behind were center-left movements such as the Alianza Verde (38,768), the MAIS (21,455) and Colombia Humana (21,436).
EMPTY SEAT
The main voting points of the country were empty throughout this unprecedented day in which 10,000 councilors were elected in 6,058 polling stations that were open between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm.
“These elections passed peacefully, calmly, without any setbacks,” said the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Doris Ruth Méndez, who valued what happened today as “a very important exercise.” despite the fact that the vote was not massive.
#At this time Young people from the towns of Bogotá go out to vote for the changes they require.
Until 4:00 pm, 2,936 voting tables will be set up so that all young people from 14 to 28 years old can take advantage of this opportunity to be heard #TipsOfYouth pic.twitter.com/g8cY2MqUfl
– Luis Ernesto Gómez? (@LuisErnestoGL) December 5, 2021
In 2012, a law was issued that established the election of Municipal and Local Youth Councils and it was planned that they would be held for the first time last year, but the pandemic forced them to be postponed.
According to the governmentThese councils are mechanisms for participation, agreement, monitoring and control of public management and dialogue of young people with the institutions.
These elections also take place in a year in which the country experienced violent street protests whose main protagonists were young people who feel excluded from political, economic, educational and business circuits, among others.
“Today the recognition is for the young people of the country who approached the polls in an unprecedented process in the world. Thanks to the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM), the Military Forces and all the entities and institutions that made this event possible. historical “, assured the national registrar, Alexander Vega.
WITHDRAWAL CONCERNS
Precisely the MOE today expressed its concern about the “low influx of young people in the different voting stations” and because its observers found that 33.3% of the tables did not have the four jurors appointed by the Registrar’s Office.
He also warned that on Saturday the Registrar issued a resolution with which “It enabled young people between 14 and 17 years old, whose identity card is suitable to vote, the possibility of doing so at any polling station in the municipality at the queue table of the respective post”.
“The EOM is concerned that this decision, which must be implemented by the delegates of the 6,058 voting stations, has been issued one day before the voting,” the agency added.
Attorney Margarita Cabello said that during the day that control body received 40 complaints of “alleged interventions in politics by public officials, electoral coercion, double voting and vote buying”, despite which she said that “it was a process calm and in peace “.
IMPORTANCE OF THIS CHOICE
The Colombian president, Iván Duque, assured that the choice of these councils is that they are the “New hotbed of political and social leadership”.
“I am certain that the young people who will be elected today will be a new hotbed of political and social leadership in Colombia, we will see them in the coming years and they will all say that they began their path of participation and political representation precisely in this election” , Duque said at the opening of the election day.
The event took place in the Plaza de Bolívar and the president was accompanied by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, who described this day as “Very special for the hemisphere because there is a new dimension of democracy that is being implemented.”
“It has to do with not only gathering the vision of young people informally or through institutional channels, but also giving young people the political responsibility of promoting ideas, projects, finding solutions and there is no issue that is alien to them. young people in no country in the world “, express.
EFE
