Observers of the Organization of American States (OAS) will be on alert for political parties buying votes in Sunday’s presidential elections.
During a press conference in the city of Cali, the head of the OAS observers, Enrique Correa, said vote-buying in Colombia is a “bad habit” resulting of a “not sufficiently protected” anonimity during voting.
The OAS sent 85 observers from 26 countries to Colombia to monitor the elections.
According to Correa, theseobservers will be extra vigilant for a “repetition” of vote-buying as the OAS denounced following the March congressional elections.
The OAS also wants to “observe how the protection of the anonimity of voting evolves,” Correa said. “In our opinion, in Colombia the anonimity of voting is not sufficiently protected.”
Following a conversation with Colombia’s Registrar General, Correa said he had been assured that election results will be made public “early and on time” in contrary to the results of the Congress elections that, two month after the elections, still aren’t made public.
Sunday’s elections are expected to be a photo finish as polls are inconclusive about which of the two leading candidates, government-alligned Juan Manuel Santos and independent candidate Antanas Mockus, takes the lead.
Supporters of both candidates have accused the other of vote-buying.
