On this Tuesday morning, less than 48 hours after the presidential elections, the National Electoral Council (CNE) began the national scrutiny, the last stage necessary for the next president of Colombia to be officially declared.
From Corferias, Bogotá, the CNE magistrates began the review of the consolidated minutes in the previous scrutiny processes, which were carried out by judges of the Republic and delegates of the electoral entity in the company of lawyers for the candidacies of Iván Cepeda (Historical Pact) and Abelardo de la Espriella (Defensores de la Patria), who won the pre-count with 12.9 million votes (around 247,000 more than the senator).
Cristian Quiroz, president of the CNE. Photo:MAURICIO MORENO / EL TIEMPO
At this stage it will be known how many claims the two campaigns finally submitted and any possible pending concerns will be resolved. The president of the CNE, Cristian Quiroz, said in a press conference that generally there are few observations that reach this instance, since many have already been responded to.
“All electoral processes have some inconveniences and requests, but many have already been resolved. Those that have not been corrected and persist come to the National Electoral Council to be acquitted,” said the magistrate, who described last Sunday’s elections as one with the greatest displays of national and international oversight.
A day before, Cepeda stated that his team of lawyers presented more than 57,000 claims. Among those observations were those of Luis Guillermo Pérez, former CNE magistrate and member of this campaign, who pointed out possible alterations in some E-14 forms.
Cristian Quiroz, president of the National Electoral Council. Photo:MAURICIO MORENO / EL TIEMPO
The electoral body reiterates that the difference between pre-count and scrutiny is usually minimal; In the last first presidential round, the coincidence between the two processes was 99.94%.
“So many electoral witnesses and jurors at the tables, counting vote by vote, make the votes very exact. I would have no way to say if it will change by 1% or 2%, but I have the reference from 21 days ago when the difference between pre-counting and scrutiny was below 0. I will hope that the story is the same for this scrutiny,” Quiroz explained.
In the midst of the national scrutiny, the Historical Pact reiterated the request for vote scrutiny hearings to be held abroad. Furthermore, the Attorney General’s Office was asked to mediate in this case, since the CNE had already denied the request.
“This is the request that we are very respectfully making, considering that precisely this will determine who and in what percentage is the next president,” indicated the representative of the Historical Pact Martha Bolívar.
Abelardo de Espriella’s campaign described the leftist campaign’s requests as “evasive maneuvers” and that they would ignore the electoral rules.
“The electoral consolation of the scrutiny of the outside of the Congress is different from that of the president. The scrutiny of the outside, by the CNE, must be carried out based on the consolidated ones prepared by the Registry,” said Nicolás Farfán, Former delegate registrar and member of the De la Espriella campaign.
LAURA CATALINA PERALTA
Political Writing
