The dispute over the recount of congressional votes is causing trouble for democracy

Not knowing the results of the March 13 congressional elections is the worst setback for democracy in decades.

Although the polarization between right and left sectors has persisted for several years, the loss of confidence in the legitimacy of the polls is putting Colombia in an unprecedented moment.

First it was Gustavo Petro, top leader of the Colombian left and one of those most likely to reach the presidency, who said it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC1Q9zD4kA

Face to face WEEK and TimeOn March 19, Petro warned that a scam was afoot. And he judged: “If widespread evidence of citizen fraud is uncovered at the polling stations, we will not accept the results of the elections.”

Petro also said at the time that in case of fraud he would ask for the votes to be counted “table by table”.

After reviewing the parliamentary elections and before Petrismo’s surprising growth compared to the precount, it was former President Álvaro Uribe who said that “the results of the elections cannot be accepted”.

Uribe justifies his reluctance to accept the results of the elections with the increase in votes in favor of Petro, in the ballot papers and at the expense of what Uribe and the Conservatives have already achieved.

The registry recognized the Historic Pact by auditing more than 390,000 more votes than it received in the precount.

In this way, Petrism got 19 seats in the Senate and Roy Barreras expects six more seats, at the expense of what Uribism and the Conservatives had achieved in the precount.

The substantive discussion is not one seat more or less, but the scrutiny of Congress and the decisions that body will make over the next four years, not only about laws, legislative acts and political control debates, but also about the election of dignitaries as judges the Constitutional Court, the Attorney General’s Office and the Court of Audit.

“Our 50 seats will decide the next Comptroller, the next judges of the CNE, the new judges of the Constitutional Court, so they are nervous and want to sabotage the presidential election,” Gustavo Bolívar, Petro’s frontline man, tweeted that afternoon.

It is the control of the legislature that is being discussed. What’s at stake.

The confrontation heats up

Chancellor Alexander Vega has already requested a recount of the votes today. The President of the Republic, Iván Duque, also called for it again.

The Historical Pact accuses the Chancellor of electoral fraud. Chancellor Alexánder Vega was not clear in his answers. Photo: ALEXANDRA RUIZ

The point is that none of them have the competence to make that decision. The electoral council, head of the electoral organization, decides on the application.

While awaiting the Electoral Council’s response, the debate over that possibility has gained momentum in recent hours. The language of the guides is very dangerous.

For Petro, who was the first to denounce the fraud and spoke of counting the votes, Uribe’s decision in this regard is now a “coup d’etat”.

“We are facing a real coup driven by Uribe,” Petro said on his Twitter account a few hours ago.

Petro has expressed all his distrust of what may result from the vote recount, as the Government, Registrar and Uribe have now called for.

“Where the scrutiny is completed, the majority of the polling stations, the votes are in the hands of the National Electoral Council with a Uribe majority and the registrars of the departments with a Uribe majority. There is no transparent chain of custody for these votes, Petro said this afternoon.

Not only has the Historic Pact chairman denounced the fraud and now opposed the vote recount, he also does not believe in the transparency of the electoral council or registry office delegates. In his opinion, they are all “Uribistas”, which does not give him confidence.

Former President Uribe posted on his Twitter account “evidence” of the unreliable increase in proPetrismo votes in various regions of the country.

Uribe has even started showing voter testimonies indicating that their votes were not counted at many tables in different cities.

Alvaro Uribe. Press Conference Hotel Habitel. Bogotá, February 21, 2022. Photo: Juan Carlos SierraSemana Magazine. Photo: JUAN CARLOS SIERRA PARDO

Petro also said this afternoon that he is canceling his participation in “election debates until the transparency of voting is guaranteed”.

The UribePetro confrontation is escalating on social media and its supporters are supporting it.

This afternoon, Uribe listed several signs on Twitter that he saw as an “attack on democracy by Petro”. And he cited, among other moments, “the narcovandalism attack during the national strike; Petro’s push for this attack; the attack on the electoral process; the attack on the cathedral.

For former President Uribe, these are all stages of “Petro’s attack on democracy.”

Conservative exPresident Andrés Pastrana, who for several months questioned the transparency of the register to guide the electoral process, also fears there is ongoing fraud in favor of the Historic Pact.

“The chancellor’s official figures reek of fraud in favor of the historic pact,” criticized the former conservative president, who also called for the votes to be recounted.

Hour by hour the climate of tension over the election results mounts.

The fear is that if there is no quick result that satisfies opposing sectors, the cloak of doubt and distrust of the electoral system will affect the presidential election.

It is expected that the Electoral Guarantees Commission, which includes the government, electoral authority, regulatory bodies and political parties, will begin to address these concerns.

Complexity of vote counting

Although President Iván Duque and Chancellor Alex Vega called for a vote recount, it’s a tortuous path that could lead to further complications.

From the start, Petro has only said that the registrar’s request was “the real scam”. In other words, he warns that he will not accept the results of this process. He argues that if the recount is done, the chain of custody of the votes will be lost and the results could be altered. “At that point, they may be filling the election bags,” he said.

Former Electoral Council member Alfonso Portela has also pointed out the logistical and legal difficulties that could arise when recounting the votes.

Alfonso Portela, former Delegate Registrar for Electoral Affairs. Photo: Courtesy / El Espectador

Portela said it was impractical that the work of 700,000 jurors who took part in the precount of votes should now be done by just 4,000 judges and notaries who would be responsible for that function.

A high risk to the transparency of voting and the legitimacy of the process is tampering with the bags that hold the votes, since recounting means opening them again and counting them again.

The location for the recount, the appropriate and reliable staff, security and the time that this phase would take are issues that the Electoral Council must resolve.

Pastrana has suggested that the government hire international forensic experts to take part in this new phase, but former judge Portela warns that this could lead to voterigging and that it is impossible to regain trust after such a situation.

It is feared that this discussion will not extend to the ongoing presidential debate and that the results of the elections to choose Iván Duque’s successor will not be covered by this cloak of mistrust. It would be very serious for democracy.