Bogotá faces a key election on Sunday, October 27, with four candidates in the race for Mayor and 5.8 million voters eligible to also cast votes for city councilors, deputies and governors. To accommodate the constant flow of voters, the Registraduría Nacional del Registro Civil (National Civil Registry) will have 16,151 voting tables open from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.
To guarantee public order and security, all alcohol sales will be banned as of 6:00 pm on Saturday until 6:00 am on Monday. The Sunday Ciclovía will be canceled to keep roads open for vehicles.
Interior Minister Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez has assured Colombians that the elections will be carried out in peace and tranquility with security forces present in all municipalities where citizens are exercising the right to vote. However, Minister Gutierrez reiterated that authorities have identified several areas in the country where there are risks to the electoral process due to the presence of illegal armed groups.
“Some of the areas that we have identified are the Pacific, which includes the departments Valle del Cauca, Chocó, Nariño, Cauca. Also in the lower Cauca Antioqueño we have also identified risk as well as in Norte de Santander, Arauca, among others,” said the senior government official. Across Colombia, the Registaduría has 11,590 voting stations with 109,000 tables.
In Bogotá, some 7,800 police will be out patrolling the streets of the capital as well as providing additional security at voting stations.
For foreigners with Permanent Resident status in Colombia who registered their cédulas with the National Registry before August 27, verify your voting station online at registraduiria.gov.co
If you failed to do within the specified time frame, your cédula will not appear on voting records. Early results are expected within hours of polls closing.
