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OAS and Colombia Sign Electoral Observation Mission Agreement for Upcoming Elections

The Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert R. Ramdin, and the Permanent Representative of Colombia to the organization, Ambassador Luis Alfonso Hoyos, signed an Agreement on the privileges and immunities for OAS observers in an Electoral Observation Mission that will observe the various elections in Colombia in 2010, including: the legislative elections of March 14, the presidential elections of May 30, and possibly a second round of the presidential elections on June 20.

Ambassador Hoyos praised the agreement, noting that “for Colombia transparency is fundamental and over the years this mechanism has demonstrated its recognition and legitimacy.” He also declared that “Colombia, in its electoral process, is constantly searching for more international participation, and the presence of the observation mission is a guarantee that represents the mechanism through which all states of the continent can obtain first-hand information regarding this process.”

The Colombian diplomat recalled the tradition that has characterized his country over the last 200 years of maintaining sound institutionalism. Nevertheless, he recognized that this institutionalism is present in only half of the Colombian territory, and the challenge the country now faces is of expanding it to the rest of the nation. “This electoral process is a step forward in this sense because we are bringing elections and electoral participation to all the corners of the Colombian forest where it had never been before,” he said.

For his part, the Assistant Secretary General highlighted the importance of the signed agreement, noting that the promotion of citizen participation and electoral transparency is an area in which the OAS has demonstrated great strength over the past 15 years, “not only in terms of the assistance that we provide to countries during their electoral processes but also in the reports we present with recommendations and results of the observation.”

Ambassador Ramdin reported that the OAS will send at least 100 international observers to both the legislative and presidential elections. He added that during the third week of February a team of OAS election specialists will be visiting Colombia to plan the Mission and report on the pre-electoral situation.

The agreement signed between the General Secretariat of the OAS and the government of Colombia is the first step toward guaranteeing that the Electoral Observation Mission can conduct its work appropriately. The Procedure Agreement, to be signed in the near future, will further define access and the basic rules of the observers’ visit.

Reference: E-024/10