The Colombian electorate announces the recount of the votes of the Senate
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Bogotá (AFP) – Colombia’s main electoral body announced on Monday that it was ordering a recount of votes in the senatorial elections earlier this month due to the high number of accusations of fraud.
One of the main accusations came from the former guerrilla Gustavo Petro, the main left-wing candidate in the presidential election in May.
Petro claimed that 500,000 votes for leftist candidates to both houses of parliament had not been counted after the March 13 elections.
“Given the myriad inconsistencies in the ballots…I will be requesting a recount of all Senate votes tomorrow,” Clerk Alexander Vega said Monday.
Vega has faced criticism from all quarters over the past week.
The historic Petro Pact coalition of left-wing parties won a record 40 seats in both houses of Congress, but they expect to gain even more after the recount.
Right-wing former president Alvaro Uribe, who leads the Democratic Center party, said the results had fomented “mistrust”.
His party only won 30 seats after losing 21, leading Uribe to call for a recount.
Vega admitted there had been “human errors” on the part of election juries leading to “inconsistencies”.
The NGO Electoral Observation Mission criticized the lack of training given to tellers before the polls while European Union observers said there was a problem with the vote counting format.
Colombians will go to the polls on May 29 to vote for a successor to President Ivan Duque, with a runoff on June 19 if there is no clear winner.
© 2022 AFP