Presidential debate in Colombia: Why do the candidates distrust the National Registry?

The presidential candidates of Colombia Gustavo Petro, Federico Gutierrez Y Sergio Fajardo They expressed this Monday their distrust in the Registrar’s Office, the entity in charge of organizing the elections next Sunday and highly criticized for its performance in the legislative elections on March 13.

This was confirmed during a debate organized by the newspaper El Tiempo and Revista Semana, which the populist did not attend. Rodolfo Hernandezthird in the polls, who canceled his participation at the last minute.

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This, moreover, it is the first debate attended by Petro in more than two months then talk with your team about the relevance of re-participating in these discussions and it is being held just six days before the elections for the May 29.

DISCUSSION ABOUT THE REGISTRAR

Registrar Alexander Vega is in the eye of the hurricane since the March legislative elections as a result of the inconsistencies that occurred in the pre-counting of votes for the Senate and the House of Representatives and that were denounced by the Historical Pactthe leftist coalition that supports Petro.

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The final scrutiny awarded this formation almost 400,000 votes more than those initially reported for the Senatewhich gave rise to a lawsuit by a lawyer against Vega, which did not prosper because, according to the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca, the jurisdiction to judge the official belongs to the Attorney General’s Office.

on that line Petro, favorite in the voting intention polls, pointed out that former presidents Andrés Pastrana and Álvaro Uribe, as well as the ruling Democratic Center party, have “announced the need to suspend the national registrar.” a few days before the vote, which would destabilize the electoral process.

For its part, Gutiérrez, of the right-wing Team for Colombia, and second in the polls, described what Petro said as “yet another distraction from what he is used to giving in the country.”

“What the country needs is that they give us guarantees, that we have fair elections, marked by legality; there are many things that have not been clarified since everything that happened in the legislative session”he pointed.

Meanwhile, Fajardo, from the Hope Center Coalition, and fourth in the polls, stated that he has “absolute distrust in the registrar, (because) his behavior in what happened in the March 13 elections left much to be desired.”

“A lot of strange things have happened along the way in recent years and I have a deep distrust (…) Petro’s call for a coup is a smoke screen thrown in the middle of a presidential campaign to attract attention”he added.

ARMED STRIKE OF THE GULF CLAN

The candidates also referred to the threat posed to the country by the criminal gang of the Gulf Clanwhich ordered an “armed strike” earlier this month in retaliation for the extradition to the United States of the top boss, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel.”

Said armed action paralyzed a hundred municipalities in the country, especially in the Urabá region (northwest), on the Caribbean coast and the north of the Pacific.

About, Fajardo lamented that “a criminal group was able for four days to exercise control in part of the territory and that means the power they have and shows that this government, which always prided itself on providing security in the territory, did not do it.”

“We saw the greatest damage to a society: seeing criminals exercising power and the role of the State,” he added, referring to the late action of the government of President Iván Duque.

Given what happened, Gutiérrez pointed out that “we must have a policy of submission (because) the Clan del Golfo does not represent any political structure to speak of a dialogue or negotiation tableor worse yet, that their leaders intend to also reach the Senate with seats”, in reference to the former FARC combatants who are now congressmen.

Petro agreed with Gutiérrez that “a political negotiation cannot be made with a multi-crime organization”, as he considers the Clan del Golfo to be.

“This multi-crime organization cannot negotiate with the government or with the president, nor can it deal with political power,” he explained.

During the debate, the three candidates also spoke briefly about other current issues such as reforms to health and the pension system, as well as measures to reduce inequality and relations with Venezuela.

Source: Elcomercio

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