Colombia Elections 2022: What is the correct way to mark the ballots?

This Sunday, March 13, the Colombians They will vote to elect 108 senators, 171 representatives and their preferred candidates who are competing for interpartisan coalitions.

How to vote?

You must go to your polling station, where the jurors will give you the Senate and House of Representatives ballots. (This last card will correspond to the municipality in which you vote). Each voter has to ask for the ballot for the query for which they want to cast their vote. Otherwise, the jury will not give you the paper.

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Once you have the ballot for the query you want to vote for, you must mark an ‘X’ in the box of the candidate of your choice. If more than one candidate is marked, the vote will be invalid. It should be noted that you can only vote on the ballot of one of the three coalitions: Team for Colombia, Hope Center Coalition and Historical Pact.

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In the case of congressional electionson each ballot (for the Senate and for the House) an ‘X’ must be placed over the logo of a single party and —if it is an open list— another X must be placed on the number of the preferred candidate.

Hope Center Coalition Card. (Photo: CNE).

Remember that if you only mark the logo of the party, movement or alliance, but do not mark any numbers, that may be a valid vote for that party.

On the other hand, if you mark the party logo and put two ‘X’s on two different candidates from that party, your vote will count for the party you marked. This works so that the political parties that stand for legislative elections can reach the threshold, which is the minimum number of votes to be able to retain their legal status.

For these elections, the threshold is 3% of the votes, that is, in the case of the Senate it is about 550,000 votes.

What do you need to know to vote for the Senate?

For the Senate of the Republic, you can vote in only one of these two ballots: the ordinary national constituency or the special indigenous constituency.

The votes on the first ballot will determine who will occupy 100 of the seats in the Senate. While the votes expressed for indigenous demarcation will elect people for two seats. It is important to remember that there are already 5 default slots for Commons party members. An additional seat will be awarded to whoever obtains the second highest vote in the presidential elections, either in the first or second round.

This is what the Senate cards look like for these elections. (Photo: Registry).

What do you need to know to vote for the House of Representatives?

This chamber is elected through the ordinary territorial constituency (departments or Capital District), the indigenous constituency, that of Afro-descendants, and that of the representatives of Colombians residing abroad. Each citizen can only vote in one of these.

This is what some of the ballots to the House of Representatives look like. (Photo: Registry).

What do the peace seat elections consist of?

There are 167 zones of Development Programs with a Territorial Approach (PDET). Those who will vote in these places will be able to request the ballot of the special constituencies for peace, which elect 16 representatives. In addition, the inhabitants of these territories will also be able to vote for one of the other constituencies for the Chamber (territorial, indigenous or Afro-descendant).

It is key to understand that the names of the candidates for the peace seats are victims of the Colombian armed conflict and will seek to represent those who, like them, suffered the war.

This is what the cards look like to vote for the peace seats. (Photo: Registry).

Is it possible to vote blank?

For the Senate and the Chamber, voters may vote blank. However, this section will not be available in inter-party consultations.

What is the time for voting?

On March 13, starting at 8 in the morning, each citizen will be able to go to the corresponding polling station. The polls will close at 4 p.m. For voting outside the country, voting began on March 7 and will continue until the 13th, at the same time set forth above.

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Source: Elcomercio