586,000 election overseers, chosen on Monday, will monitor the upcoming presidential elections and work to prevent voter fraud says the body responsible for managing the logistics of Colombia’s elections.
Of the 586,000 chosen on Monday, 98,398 are designated for Bogota in an attempt to combat problems of voter fraud, voter intimidation and vote buying in the upcoming presidential election on May 25. The Registraduria (Colombia’s election registry) says training for those selected will take place from April 28.
On Thursday, April 24 the 586,000 elected overseers will be designated their municipalities, with a higher concentration assigned to areas with a higher population density and number of voters.
Nationwide there are 88,657 tables spread across 10,642 polling stations, all of which must have independent adjudicators to prevent fraudulent voting.
The draw for Bogota was conducted on Tuesday by a random drawing from a database of 351,609 citizens eligible to work as electoral observers. Stringent measures were put into place to ensure that those chosen did not have any history of political bias or voter fraud.
MORE: Colombia’s electoral authority receives 650 new claims of election fraud
The Bogota observers will be monitoring 490 polling stations and 14,230 voting tables which will be installed in the capital.
Electoral fraud was a big problem in the March elections, according to the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), an NGO that monitors electoral processes in Colombia. The organization’s spokesperson told Colombia Reports that “we have never received this many complaints about election fraud” since the organization’s foundation in 2007.
A list of the overseers who will themselves be voting is to be presented by the Electoral Registry on April 25.
Sources
- Sorteados 98.398 jurados de votación que prestarán su servicio en Bogotá durante elecciones del 25 de mayo (Registraduria)
- Registraduría inicia en todo el país los sorteos para designar los cerca de 586.000 jurados que prestarán su servicio en la elección presidencial (Registraduria)
- Listos los 98.398 jurados para las elecciones presidenciales en Bogotá (El Universal)
- Listos los 98.398 jurados para las presidenciales en Bogotá (Vanguardia)
