The European Union Election Observation Mission (EOM), deployed to observe the 13 March legislative elections and the 29 May presidential elections in Colombia (see EUROPE 12885/17), welcomed on Wednesday 16 March the democratic commitment of Colombians during “transparent and efficient” elections.
The mission notes security problems, particularly in rural areas, and the widespread practice of “vote buying”. In the new constituencies (CITREP) created to elect 16 deputies from regions affected by the civil war before the peace agreement sealed in 2016 with the FARC, “serious obstacles” to the electoral process have been observed, it adds.
The implementation of the CITREP constituencies “in a very short timeframe” revealed “design flaws”, the MOE interim report states, not least the exclusion from their geographical delimitation of municipal capitals where many displaced people from conflict zones actually live. “These difficulties were compounded by the climate of violence in many municipalities” and the fact that “it was virtually impossible” for candidates to “access public funding”, the report says. In addition, the elections in the CITREP constituencies were subject to “allegations of infiltration by candidates supported by political parties and armed groups”.
MEP Javi López (S&D, Italy), who heads the EOM, will present a final report after the presidential elections with recommendations for future elections.
See the interim report of the EOM: https://aeur.eu/f/sc (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)