Colombia: Santos predicts ‘beginning of a new Colombia’ after victory | Miami Herald

Colombians decided Sunday to give President Juan Manuel Santos four more years to clench his signature project — a peace deal with the nation’s guerrillas that might end a half century of civil conflict. With 99 percent of the vote counted, Santos had won 51 percent versus 45 percent for former Finance Minister Oscar Iván Zuluaga. Months of whiplash polls and bitter recriminations boiled down to a difference of about 900,000 ballots in a race that was largely seen as a referendum on ongoing peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Havana. After he plowed through a crowd of supporters and white-clad children waving cutouts of doves, Santos said he was determined to clench a peace deal.

Colombia: 11,000 polls ready, overseas voting under way in Colombia’s presidential election | Colombia Reports

Colombia’s National Registrar has confirmed that all the necessary preparations have been made for the country’s second-round elections this Sunday. According to the Registrar, more than 32 million Colombians are eligible to vote in Colombia’s June 15 elections, both domestically and abroad. Early voting for the nearly 600,000 Colombian citizens living abroad started on Monday, with polling stations located in 64 different countries. Nearly 11,000 polling stations will be open in the country on election day. According to Radio W, the National Registrar has installed thousands of biometric identification tools throughout the country to combat voter impersonation fraud. Nearly half a million Colombian citizens will also be working as jurors to ensure that the elections run as smoothly as possible.

Colombia: Uribe’s wrath | The Economist

Óscar Iván Zuluaga’s name was on the ballot, but it was his political mentor and the former president, Álvaro Uribe (pictured right), who pulled in the votes. A finance minister under Mr Uribe, Mr Zuluaga (pictured left) scored 29% in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election on May 25th, beating Juan Manuel Santos, the current president, by four percentage points. The two men will now face each other in a run-off on June 15th. With his direct, folksy manner, Mr Uribe has dominated Colombian politics since he first won the presidency in 2002. After changing the constitution to allow his re-election, he won again in 2006. Barred from a third term, he backed Mr Santos, his former defence minister, in 2010, expecting his successor to continue his tough security policies, particularly against the FARC guerrillas.

Colombia: Congressional elections saw ‘unprecedented voter fraud and vote buying’: Electoral Observers | Colombia Reports

Colombia’s Sunday congressional elections saw an unprecedented amount of voter fraud and vote buying, though violent pressure on voters from armed illegal groups largely abated, according to electoral observers. As the dust cleared approaching midweek after Colombia’s congressional elections, candidates were crying fraud and corruption. Former President and senator elect Alvaro Uribe called the Sunday’s elections “illegitimate” in an interview with Blu Radio; defeated presidential primary candidate Camilo Romero insisted on Twitter that ballots were missing across the country; and presidential candidate Aida Avella told Colombia Reports that “money,” not votes, guaranteed candidates congressional seats this past weekend. MOE spokesperson Fabian Hernandez told Colombia Reports subsequently that “we have never received this many complaints about election fraud” since the organization’s foundation in 2007.

Colombia: Uribe’s party charges irregularities in Colombia vote | GlobalPost

Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe’s party charged Wednesday that its showing in Sunday’s legislative elections was affected by what it said were serious irregularities in the vote count. Uribe’s opposition Democratic Center party said it had evidence that 250,000 votes in its favor were not counted, “which would substantially change the election results and the composition of the Congress.”

Colombia: Observers report 150 allegations of voter fraud amid relatively calm elections | Colombia Reports

With only a few reported rebel attacks, less than 20 arrests and little more than 160 fraud allegations, Colombia’s congressional elections that began at 8AM this morning are proceeding in relative calm. Police did arrest five suspects for allegedly trying to influence voters on their way to the polling stations in the southern Putumayo state, said Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon who called this year’s elections the “most secure” in Colombia’s history. Twelve more suspects were arrested at polls throughout the country, reported Colombian news agency El Tiempo.  Some of the arrested were arrested for crimes related to voter fraud while others were reportedly arrested because of pre-existing warrants. Rebel groups like the FARC and ELN refrained from high-profile attacks; According to local police, FARC rebels did attack an army unit, but away from a polling station.  A front of the FARC also has been blamed for preventing some residents from voting in a municipality in the state of Putumayo said El Tiempo.

Colombia: Buying votes with cash, beer and bricks in Colombia’s upcoming parliamentary elections? | Reuters

In Colombia, it’s easy to tell when election season is in full swing. Potholes are suddenly filled with cement, stretches of roads are paved and local officials rush to inaugurate often unfinished public buildings. It’s one way to show that public funds have been well spent under their watch as a way of helping the political party they represent to do well at the polls. Election campaign posters and pamphlets stuffed in postboxes say “no to corruption” and “public funds are sacred”. Yet election-rigging scandals, allegations of election fraud and vote-buying are an all too common feature of the political landscape in Colombia. In Colombia’s parliamentary, local and presidential elections over the decades, local media have reported ineligible voters casting ballots, including some using fake or stolen identity cards, and tampered electoral registers that include the names of dead citizens or have names listed twice.

Colombia: President names Vargas Lleras as running mate | Reuters

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos on Monday named German Vargas Lleras as his vice presidential running mate, a popular choice that will likely boost his chances of winning a second straight term in office later this year. Vargas Lleras, a former Santos cabinet minister and senator, will campaign for election in May and promise to help bolster economic growth and steer peace talks with Marxist FARC rebels to end Colombia’s half-century war. Santos is the front-runner by far to win the election in a second round of voting in June, but having the popular Vargas Lleras as running mate raises his chances of clinching a first-round win.

Colombia: Colombia to introduce electronic voting in 2014 | Colombia Reports

The Colombian government plans to implement an electronic voting system for the 2014 elections,reports newspaper Vanguardia. Government officials made the announcement in collaboration with the Interior Ministry Sunday. A forum led by Senator Juan Manuel Galan Pachon outlined a number of implementations that would improve Colombia‘s electoral system, including electronic voting, a fingerprinting system, and voter registration. Pachon said that modernizing the electoral system would combat crimes like buying of votes, impersonation, identity theft, and ‘transhumance’ — a method of electoral manipulation where voters move to cities other than their place of residence in order to vote for a particular candidate.

Colombia: Liberal Party demands recount in Valle governor election | Colombia Reports

The Liberal Party requested a recount in the Valle del Cauca governor election after their candidate lost by less than 1% of the votes, Colombian media reported. With 98.40% of the votes counted, Liberal Party candidate Jorge Homero Giraldo received 32.62% with 441,303 votes, while Hector Fabio Useche from the “Inclusion and Opportunities Movement” — or MIO Party — received 446,810 votes, which represents 33.02%.

The delay to count the votes in this photo-finish has the Liberal Party demanding answers. “We fear that Valle del Cauca was happening the same as in the last elections of Congress, when they reported surprising and inexplicable results, so we will ask they recount vote by vote,” said Rafael Pardo Rueda, the head of the Liberal Party.

Colombia: Cali election official removed from post amid growing corruption scandal | Colombia Reports

The Director of the Cali Registry Office has been removed from his position in response to a corruption scandal that has engulfed the Cali mayoral election. Hollman Ibañez was removed after he was accused of corruption by Rodrigo Guerrero, the mayoral candidate who had been taken off the ballot for allegedly collecting fraudulent signatures.

According to Caracol Radio, unofficial sources have also suggested Ibañez influenced the decision not to endorse the petitions of Guerrero and fellow candidate Susana Correa. However, Ibañez will now take on a new role as Director of the National Civil Registrar. He will be replaced in Cali by Dr. Jose Ignacio Cordoba Delgado.