EOM highlights the risks Colombia must face ahead of the upcoming elections

The Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) presented on Friday the results of its third observation report on the Colombian elections, in which it highlighted the risks and concerns facing the presidential elections to be held in Colombia this year.

Among the most critical points of the report, the organisation highlighted four dangers that the country must face: high levels of violence, campaign financing, control of the software used to count the votes and the change of ballot papers. These factors "may have an impact on transparency, security, freedom and equal access to vote in the congressional and presidential elections", according to the EOM report.

Escalation of violence

The EOM noted concerns about the difficulty for candidates to move freely in some territories, and about people displaced by armed conflict in certain areas of the country. It highlighted in its report the difficulties posed by "the escalation of violence by the different illegal armed actors in different regions of the country which, although in most cases it has not been caused by the elections, it does impact the electoral process".

This situation has already affected some electoral candidates such as Francia Márquez, who reflected on her social networks the problems during her campaign travels: "For two days we travelled through Timbiquí and Guapi. I would have liked to go to more territories in the Pacific, but the violence prevented us from doing so", she said on Twitter.

During the month of January, 37 violent acts against political and social leaders have been recorded, which represents an increase of 27.6% compared to the same period in 2018 when 29 were recorded.

"In 2022, there have been 8 threats against congressional candidates, an attack against a candidate for the Special Transitory Peace Circumscription (CITREP) of Magdalena - Guajira - Cesar; a threat against a leader candidate for the CITREP of the South of Tolima and a threat against a presidential pre-candidate", according to data from the EOM.

Financing of electoral campaigns

This point especially affects the candidates of the Special Transitory Peace Circumscriptions (CITREP), who "have not received the advance funds to finance their electoral campaigns", limiting their political campaigns, according to the EOM report.

Another limitation for CITREP candidates is the number of obstacles they face when opening bank accounts, says EOM director Alejandra Barrios.

Software control

The 2022 presidential and congressional elections in Colombia will be the first in the country to use state-owned software to scrutinise the votes cast by the National Electoral Council.

However, the EOM questions this system since the counting of votes at the territorial level will continue to be the property of private companies. "This is separating the development of the scrutiny into two contracts that concentrate on different stages of the scrutiny process," the report adds.

The body insisted on the need for the existence of guarantees for the auditing and control of political organisations not only in the state software, but also to include the possibility of developing it in the zonal, local, municipal, district and departmental scrutinies.

As part of its allegations and reports, the EOM requested the National Registry of Civil Status (RNEC) to consider the possibility of being considered to carry out its observer functions.

Electoral Cards

In 2022, a change was made to the layout of the ballot cards, making them easier to mark at the time of voting. Although the modifications are positive, the EOM notes that "the design of the electoral cards and the delivery mechanism could lead to an excess of unmarked cards or votes deposited in the ballot box", which could generate a problem in the counting of votes, and subsequent scrutinies.

For this reason, the EOM asked the RNEC to coordinate a technical roundtable with the participation of political organisations and the EOM, with the aim of learning in detail about the process of handing out the ballot cards and the recount to be carried out by the voting juries. 

Coordinator for the Americas: José Antonio Sierra.