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OAS MISSION HIGHLIGHTS COLOMBIA’S COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY FOR THEIR ORDERLY PARTICIPATION IN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

The Mission deployed by the Organization of American States (OAS) to observe Colombia’s municipal elections on October 28 said today that even under extremely complex conditions, the people of Colombia demonstrated their resolve to move towards an increasingly more efficient and participatory democracy.

These comments were shared with the Permanent Council by Dante Caputo, Chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) in Colombia, as he presented a preliminary report about the electoral process in that country. Caputo recognized that the electoral process to elect governors, mayors and other local authorities, faced a number of complex challenges in an environment of political violence, caused by illegally armed groups. However, he emphasized that these elections were held in an orderly and democratic manner.

“What is striking about Colombia is how the people of Colombia did not fear, fear itself. How Colombians, despite the immense difficulty of staging an electoral system with permanent provocation of violence, were able to go to the polls,” said the Head of the Mission. “It is marvelous for Colombia and it is also marvelous for all of us in this hemisphere to know that despite the immense difficulties that a people that faces violence daily, provocation daily, it is able to deposit their desire to choose the fate of their society,” added Caputo.

The Mission, which began on October 2 with the arrival of the first group of 125 observers from 25 countries, remained in Colombia until November 16. This way, the EOM was preset during the pre-electoral phase, Election Day, and the final tally process in the different departments of the country as well as in Bogota.

In this opportunity, and aiming to improve future electoral process, the Chief of Mission shared some of the deficiencies of the process and expressed recommendations that will be expanded when the final report is presented to the Permanent Council. Among the recommendations included reform the electoral code to end with two parallel existing electoral authorities, improve financing systems for the political parties, and improve the electoral administration and the system of cataloguing electoral crimes.


The Permanent Representative of Colombia to the OAS, Camilo Ospina, thanked the hemispheric body for the work carried out by the EOM, underscoring the value of this task. He noted that it represents a constructive accompaniment that was “an assurance for the proper development of these elections.”

“The electoral process was another example that Colombia has an effective, efficient and participatory democracy, and that its population exercised their right to vote in a system of complete freedom, in a calm and orderly manner,” said Ambassador Ospina.
Representatives from Member States congratulated the conduct of Colombian society, highlighting its contribution to the strengthening of democracy, and thanked the member countries and observers that contributed to the Electoral Observation Mission.

Reference: E-330/07