In one of the most damaging episodes in recent history to Colombia’s electoral process, just days after the National Registrar delivered the final vote count of the ballot for the March 13 legislative primaries and election of the three coalition presidential candidates, Gustavo Petro of the Pacto Histórico (Historic Pact) coalition cried foul claiming that 500,000 ballots to elect Senators and House representatives of his movement were not accounted for.
Petro’s claims that the ballot count was fraudulent despite all the alleged 500,000 votes going to his party Colombia Humana, came after the National Registrar’s Alexander Vega admitted that the E-14 ballot presented a “myriad of inconsistencies” based on “human errors” despite oversight by national and international jurors.
Faced with mounting accusations by Petro and current frontrunner of the presidential election with 37% voting intention according to the most recent Yanhass poll, President Iván Duque supported a recount of all ballots that will decide the number the seats each party gets in Congress. On Tuesday, Vega confirmed that he will not present the independent National Election Council (CNE) a petition to recount votes given that few political parties support a recount. The other presidential candidates who were elected in their respective coalitions have not contested the elections, but demand “transparency” from the Registrar.
The three parties that have asked for a recount are Centro Democrático, Verde Oxigeno and Salvación Nacional.
During a debate on Sunday hosted by RCN network, Federico Gutiérrez said it was “surprising that all the missing votes belong to Petro.” The center-right candidate of Equipo Colombia won 2.1 million votes, followed by Sergio Fajardo of the centrist coalition Centro Esperanza with 721,521. Gutiérrez is widely regarded as the candidate who will contest the first round of the presidential election on May 29 against Petro.
In Sunday’s Yanhass poll, the former Mayor of Medellín has 19% support among those polled, up from 3% in January. Independent candidate Rodolfo Hernández (11%) has seen his base erode over the last three months, while Fajardo (10%) attempts to stay within double digits. The candidate for Oxygen Green party, Ingrid Betancourt, registers 2% of voting intention.
Despite getting 4.4 million votes from his supporters, Gustavo Petro’s election night celebration was muted given that the count was below the 4.8 million he received during the first round of the 2018 presidential election on May 27, represented as 25% of total votes cast. As the official candidate of the right-wing Centro Democrático party, President Duque tallied more than 7.6 million votes – almost 40% – resulting in a run-off with Petro on June 17.
The difference, however, with the most recent primaries is that within Petro’s Historic Pact, a social leader from the conflict-stricken department of Cauca, Francia Márquez, received more than 780,000 votes. Even though she remains a loyal supporter of Petro’s socialist agenda, Márquez’s high vote count reveals political divisions within a not-so-cohesive left, or growing “protest vote” against the hegemony of the former M-19 guerrilla.
Márquez’s 780,000 votes should have added to Petro’s final count and despite Petro’s “overwhelming support” (as many foreign new outlets headlined the primaries), when close to 20 million registered voters head to polls on May 29, the frontrunner (not his coalition) will need 50% plus one vote of all ballots (an estimated nine million plus) to clinch victory on the first round. A victory that he believes is his, and anything short of becoming president-elect, will also most likely be contested as “fraud.” During the first debate with the Semana/El Tiempo media groups, Petro was the only candidate who implied he may dispute the election results.
The fraud claims brought forth by the leader of Pacto Histórico was challenged by Petro’s political arch enemy, former two-term President Álvaro Uribe, who stated on Twitter: “Dr Petro, win the elections, do not try to steal them or impose yourself by plotting accusations of fraud against those of us who are asking for clear accounts.” Uribe’s Centro Democrático party lost five seats in Congress and legislative defeat recognized by the conservative leader as a rebuke to “my reputation and what the government (of President Iván Duque) has failed to do.”
Petro announced on Twitter Sunday that he will not participate in any of the presidential debates with other candidates until “the transparency of the vote is guaranteed,” and move his rivals are seizing to gain political terrain.
During Sunday’s RCN Grand Debate, Fajardo, Betancourt, Gutiérrez and Miguel Gómez of Salvación Nacional, all concurred that amongst them “democracy is not at risk.” Holding a photo of the absent Petro, Gutiérrez pointed to his rival stating: “He won’t come back to these debates because he knows Colombians no longer believe his lies.”
