Low turnout at the polls in the election of youth councils

Colombian authorities reported this Sunday a low influx of young people in the election of the Municipal and Local Youth Councils, which was held for the first time in the country.

(Colombia opens an electoral day for young people).

The National Electoral Council (CNE) detailed in a balance bulletin, which was carried out in the middle of the day, that only about 500,000 of the 12.2 million young people eligible to vote had gone to the polls. However, the final balance of the day is not yet known.

Along the same lines, the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), a social organization that reported “a low influx of young people in the different voting positions, which is why it calls on all young people between 14 and 28 years old to attend the assigned voting positions”.

That body also pointed out that its observers found that 33.3% of the tables did not have the four jurors appointed by the National Registry of Civil Status, organizer of the elections.

That forced “the electoral organization to occupy the remaining juries”, added the MOE in a statement.

According to the Registrar this Sunday about 10,000 councilors were elected in 6,058 voting stations.

In total, there were 41,684 candidates registered in 7,789 lists made up of political parties and movements or independent ones.

The Municipal and Local Youth Councils are mechanisms for participation, agreement, monitoring and control of public management and dialogue with young people before the institutionality.

“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” , President Iván Duque said this morning at the opening of the election day.

EFE