The chancellor and vice president, Marta Lucía Ramírez, reported that the only constituency that has shown difficulties for the development of the electoral day is the one that corresponds to the Consulate General of Colombia in Shanghai due to the restrictions to contain covid-19.
The official explained that “the measures adopted by the local authorities in Shanghai include restrictions on movement between districts (neighbourhoods), lockdowns and quarantines”.
“The building where the consulate works is located right on the border between two districts and the entry of people was restricted. The electoral potential of the consulate in Shanghai is 255 voters”, he added.
Likewise, he said that, “according to the flexibility of the measures that they can adopt during the week, the city authorities the opening of the polling station will be determined”.
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On the other hand, the chancellor affirmed that “Due to the time change in other countries, some points have already been enabled. Colombians residing in New Zealand are the first to exercise their right to vote for the elections”.
“In this context, the Electoral Process Follow-up Table was installed at the headquarters of the Colombian Foreign Ministry, with the participation of the Ministry of the Interior, the National Registry of Civil Status and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will be pending from this point of international monitoring, ”he assured.
In that sense, he said that “we will be accompanying the work of the Registry and we are with the greatest willingness to serve the polling stations abroadwith approximately 1,119 tables from Monday to Friday and 2,248 on Sunday”.
Additionally, he stated that “Due to the situation in Venezuela, the Registry enabled six voting stations in the municipalities of Arauca (Arauca), Inírida (Guanía), Maicao (La Guajira), Cúcuta and Villa del Rosario (Norte de Santander)., in order to guarantee the right to vote and the political participation of Colombian citizens residing in that country. Their electoral potential amounts to 184,421 citizens”.
Subsequently, he stated that “for the rest of the countries, 110 voting stations have been set up during the week (Monday to Saturday) and 216 on Sunday. According to the Electoral Political Division (Divipole), established by the Registrar’s Office, the electoral potential abroad amounts to 972,764 compatriots authorized to exercise their right to vote on election day.
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It is noteworthy that voting abroad will be developed according to the time zones of each polling station, between May 23 and 29, 2022, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm (local time of each country).
Ramírez mentioned that “as is already established, The Electoral Process Monitoring Table will work 24 hours a day throughout the week and until the last polling station abroad reports the close of the day. This team will not carry reports of pre-counting votes, since that is a function of the Registrar’s Office.”
“The table will only serve to attend and help in the solution of concerns that the ambassadors, consuls and officials in charge abroad of accompanying the electoral process can present”, he concluded.
