The National Electoral Council on Wednesday announced that it was investigating the alleged violation of election codes by Colombian political party “National Democratic Alliance” (ADN), which could lead to the party’s legal status being revoked.
The head of the electoral council, Judge Marco Hincapie, said that the investigation into ADN was a result of the party’s inappropriate use of the media and suspicious sources of funding, reports Colombian online news-source PrimeraPagina.com.
Many of ADN’s members are former members of Colombia Viva, Convergencia Ciudadana and Colombia Democratica, three Colombian political parties that are now effectively defunct, after being disgraced by their members’ links with paramilitaries.
Colombian media reported recently that the party, and many of its members, who only entered the Colombian political scene when the party was formed in December last year, have close ties to other politicians who are currently behind bars for their part in the “para-politics” scandals.
Semana reported that former Convergencia Ciudadana Senator Juan Carlos Martinez Sinisterra masterminded the creation of the new party from prison, where he is incarcerated for parapolitics, while Cambio asserts that “in an attempt to clean up its polluted image, Convergencia Ciudadana has become the ADN.” Cambio claims that the ADN is in fact the same legal entity as Convergencia Cuidadana.
One of the ADN candidates is the sister of Vicente Blel, who was sentenced on Tuesday to seven years in prison for “para-politics”.
The head of the ADN party, Carlos Moreno de Caro, also a candidate for the upcoming elections, responded to allegations that his party was funded by drug money by claiming that, on the contrary, a “faggot in South Africa who is in love with me … is sending me the money.“
