A total of 39 million two thousand 239 citizens are eligible to vote today in the second round of elections that will elect the new President and Vice President of Colombia.
Voters will choose between the formula of the Historic Pact, composed of Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez; and the League of Anti-Corruption Governors binomial, consisting of Rodolfo Hernández and Merelen Castillo.
Of the total number of people registered, 20 million 111 908 are women and 18 million 890 331 are men who can vote at 102 152 tables spread across 12 513 polling stations, according to the National Registration.
Figures from this facility show that 38,29,475 voters can vote on Colombian soil, while 972,764 residents abroad can do so at 250 polling stations in 67 countries, located mainly in embassies and consulates.
Voting for Colombians living abroad began last Monday and as of yesterday a total of 134,248 Colombians have exercised their right to vote.
The second round of voting begins at 8:00 a.m. local time with polling stations opening nationwide and closing at 4:00 p.m.
The National Civil Registry will issue official bulletins with the preliminary results of the census after the vote is completed, to later proceed with the examination, verification and consolidation of the data.
National civil registrar Alexander Vega explained that there are more than 71,000 electoral witnesses from the Historic Pact and more than 52,000 from the League of Anti-Corruption Rulers.
In the meantime, he said, the software “owned by the voting organization is being audited by the candidates’ campaigns.”
These elections will also have eight international observation missions, more than 410 observers from international organizations and accredited non-governmental organizations from 33 countries and 55 organizations that will monitor the election process, he explained.
Election Observation and Monitoring Missions include the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations (Uniore) and the European Union Election Observation Mission.
There is also the mission of the Organization of American States, the Carter Center, Electoral Transparency, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, and the Association of World Election Bodies.
Technical missions are made up of specialists in technology, computer science and electoral processes from different countries.
Since yesterday, Saturday, 18:00, the Dry Law, which bans the consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages throughout the national territory, began, which ends tomorrow, Monday, 12:00.
With regard to security, according to the Interior Ministry, the borders were also closed yesterday from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday morning.
Likewise, the government dispatched 320,000 men and women of public authority to ensure the calm of the citizens in this Sunday’s vote. Under the Democracy Plan, soldiers, police officers, naval and air force personnel will be deployed on land, in the air, on water and on rivers to “guarantee the right to vote for Colombians”, according to its maximum premise. .
In the first round of voting on May 29, Petro and Francia Márquez reached eight million 542,000 20 votes, accounting for 40.34 percent of the vote.
Hernández and Castillo scored five million 965,531, or 28.17 percent.
Since no one has reached 50 percent plus one, the elections are held today and whoever gets the most votes will be the winner and govern for four years without re-election.
Article 197 of the Constitution declares that “a citizen who has exercised the office of President in any capacity cannot be elected President of the Republic”.
Some polls give Petro a 10-point lead over Hernandez and others offer a technical tie.
The biggest concern at the moment is the lack of a company to test the voice transmission software because the registry office has not signed any relevant contracts.
The new President of Colombia will take office on August 7th and the current President, Iván Duque, will end his term.