Registrar Hernán Penagos assured that there are guarantees for the second presidential round and invited the candidates to respect the eventual result of the ballot boxes.
His statements were made within the framework of administrative visits in Medellín, where, at a press conference, he clarified that since the Registrar reviewed all concerns that arose from the electoral process in the first round. “He precount success In the last elections it was 99.6 percentthat is, almost perfect,” he assured.
In that sense, he indicated that his work as Registrar implies guarantee due electoral processbut that the role of presidential candidates consists of respect the results.
Pre-counting of votes in Medellín. Photo:Javier Nieto Álvarez.
At this point, all candidates for the House of Nariño recognized the results of the first round. However, it is worth remembering that, after the president’s questions Gustavo Petro in front of the pre-count, Iván Cepeda also expressed his doubts; but a day later retracted and assured that he had no evidence or indications that would allow him to ignore the electoral result. Petro, for his part, has not yet commented on this rectification.
And three days after finishing the scrutiny, on June 7, through a statement in X, Cepeda officially recognized the results of the first round. “I inform the public that, once the scrutiny is over, I recognize the results of the first round of the presidential election,” he wrote.
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After clearing up all the concerns that left-wing figures had raised – which in turn were supported by state officials and citizens – the Registry found that many of the existing complaints came from wrong interpretations of electoral information. Thus, for example, he reiterated that there were no changes to the census in the first round.
Likewise, the Registrar guaranteed that all measures are being taken necessary measures so that the The day of June 21 passes transparently. He assured that there will be judicial support, GPS trackingjustice tables at each voting station, as well as electoral witnesses of both campaigns.
“Witnesses can request a recount of votes at the voting station and can take photographs of the electoral record. The Registry Office will also proceed to publish the electoral records of the 122,000 tables,” he said.
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Along these lines, he assured that the electoral software will be frozen until the close of business on Sunday as a measure to ensure transparency.
He also highlighted that the electoral material is already in distribution both in the 67 countries where voting is done abroad as in Colombian territory. For shield the process against any suspicion of frauda protocol that combines military protection with technological tools.
“All the electoral material that is distributed in the national territory is followed, guarded, if you will, through georeferencing”, he indicated.
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The legitimacy of the electoral system
The electoral observation missions have highlighted the security of the Colombian electoral process. The evaluation of the European Union Electoral Observation Mission supported the development of the process and the reliability of the mechanisms voting and counting.
For its part, the Electoral Observation Mission ruled out doubts about the pre-counting and scrutiny process of the first round.
In turn, Erick Rincondean of the Faculty of Jurisprudence of the Universidad del Rosario, highlighted the “technical and institutional solidity of the Colombian electoral system“. He assured that this must be “reason for citizen trust and not anxiety” in the face of the second presidential round. In addition, he pointed out that it is essential that the political leaders speak out in favor of “the legitimacy that the electoral system itself has proven to deserve.”
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Along the same lines, in Medellín, the Registrar defended the legitimacy and maturity of the democratic system of the country, bringing up the organizational success and high citizen participation registered in the Congressional elections and in the first presidential round.
Furthermore, he recalled that there are even five different legal instances to present claims or challenges: from the voting station to the Council of State.
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ELENA BERMÚDEZ RIVERA
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