The Prosecutor General’s Office said Sunday that 39 Colombians reported as missing “voted” in the Andean nations second round presidential elections.
According to the prosecutor general, the majority of these “voters” are men aged between 22 and 45, who were registered as missing more than seventeen years ago.
Vice Defense Minister Alejandro Arbelaez said that many of the missing people who voted both in the first round and second round presidential elections had been reported missing by NGOs. He added that it was a positive thing that the missing people had turned up alive, but these anomalies would have to be corrected by the NGOs.
The missing people’s votes were registered in the cities of Sincelejo, Monteria, Villavicencio, Pereira, Medellin and Bogota.
On election day 62 people were arrested, 58 of whom are the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, while the rest were apprehended for committing electoral crimes.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said that over 2010’s three elections – the March 14 congressional elections, the May 30 first round presidential elections and the June 20 second round presidential elections – 181 missing people had “voted” and 199 people were arrested.
Partido de la U leader and the unofficial heir of outgoing President Alvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos, won Colombia’s second round June 20 presidential election with 69% of the vote.
