The electoral authority of Colombia desisted this Tuesday from requesting a recount of the votes to the Senate, after multiple inconsistencies in the initial count that raised suspicions of fraud both in the ruling party and in the opposition.
“For the peace of mind of the political forces, I am not going to present the request for the recount of votes”, dsaid the head of the National Registry, Alexander Vega, during a meeting with the government and party delegates.
Very questioned by the partial scrutiny of the legislative elections on March 13, Vega proposed on Monday a recount of the votes that determined the composition of the upper house. His proposal fell badly on the left, which denounced an attempt at manipulation.
In the first report, the electoral body did not count around 500,000 votes for the Historical Pact, the coalition of leftist parties led by presidential candidate Gustavo Petro.
The opposition alliance achieved the best vote for the left by winning 44 seats in the Senate against the 41 initially indicated by the Registrar’s Office. The scrutiny confirmed the progress of the Historical Pact over the party in power, punished at the polls.
Petro rejected the idea of the recount and denounced that through this mechanism they wanted to cut the vote that his coalition had obtained.
“The votes are in custody, the chain of custody is maintained and we are giving all the support to the judges of the Republic to finish the count,” replied Vega, who insists that there are no reasons to suspect fraud.
“It is good that we return to democratic institutions in the electoral count”, Petro celebrated on Twitter after learning of the decision of the questioned registrar.
Influential right-wing former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), head of the governing Democratic Center, and his pupil Iván Duque had also requested a recount.
Emissaries from the NGO Electoral Observation Mission and the European Union have criticized the lack of training of juries by the Registry and failures in the registration forms of each table.
On May 29, the presidential elections will be held in which the Democratic Center will not participate with its own candidate and Petro appears as a favorite in the polls.
The electoral authority of Colombia desisted this Tuesday from requesting a recount of the votes to the Senate, after multiple inconsistencies in the initial count that raised suspicions of fraud both in the ruling party and in the opposition.
“For the peace of mind of the political forces, I am not going to present the request for the recount of votes”, dsaid the head of the National Registry, Alexander Vega, during a meeting with the government and party delegates.
Very questioned by the partial scrutiny of the legislative elections on March 13, Vega proposed on Monday a recount of the votes that determined the composition of the upper house. His proposal fell badly on the left, which denounced an attempt at manipulation.
In the first report, the electoral body did not count around 500,000 votes for the Historical Pact, the coalition of leftist parties led by presidential candidate Gustavo Petro.
The opposition alliance achieved the best vote for the left by winning 44 seats in the Senate against the 41 initially indicated by the Registrar’s Office. The scrutiny confirmed the progress of the Historical Pact over the party in power, punished at the polls.
Petro rejected the idea of the recount and denounced that through this mechanism they wanted to cut the vote that his coalition had obtained.
“The votes are in custody, the chain of custody is maintained and we are giving all the support to the judges of the Republic to finish the count,” replied Vega, who insists that there are no reasons to suspect fraud.
“It is good that we return to democratic institutions in the electoral count”, Petro celebrated on Twitter after learning of the decision of the questioned registrar.
Influential right-wing former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), head of the governing Democratic Center, and his pupil Iván Duque had also requested a recount.
Emissaries from the NGO Electoral Observation Mission and the European Union have criticized the lack of training of juries by the Registry and failures in the registration forms of each table.
On May 29, the presidential elections will be held in which the Democratic Center will not participate with its own candidate and Petro appears as a favorite in the polls.
;
