Piling evidence of fraud forces me to dispute Ivan Duque’s claim he legitimately won Colombia’s 2018 elections until after a credible investigation by a special prosecutor.
I sadly acknowledge the gravity of not recognizing the election outcome, but I am applying even stricter rules than those I applied to Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro whose 2019 re-election I also consider illegitimate.
Colombia increasingly shows the characteristics of a mafia state instead of a “flawed democracy,” especially after evidence of mafia intervention in the elections and the security forces’ collusion with narcos.
I am not saying that runner up Gustavo Petro is the president of Colombia, because I do not know, I am not a political scientist or an expert in constitutional law.
All I know is that the evidence of fraud is so overwhelming and compelling that I can no longer confirm Duque’s claim he is the legitimate president of a democratic republic without betraying my principles.
Evidence and reports of fraud have existed since 2018, but were never investigated by the National Registrar, the National Electoral Council or the Prosecutor General’s Office, which in itself would constitute criminal neglect.
Recent claims and corroborating evidence that Duque was personally involved in election fraud must be investigated and, if proven true, punished. If proven false, I will gladly recognize the legitimacy of the current administration.
Evidence of fraud
Colombia’s State Council ruled in February 2018 that the 2014 congressional elections were rigged through the hacking of the National registry’s computer system. The National Registrar did not patch this “bug” before the presidential election, according to the the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE).
The MOE additionally found the following irregularities in the presidential election, and I quote:
Restoring democratic order and the rule of law
Without the effective application of the rule of law, Duque cannot claim he is legitimately presiding over the executive branch of a democratic republic, and his political party can’t credibly claim to be legitimate if there is evidence of at least three senators with ties to the now-defunct Medellin Cartel.
Only exhaustive scrutiny of the election results and an independent investigation into Duque’s alleged involvement in vote-buying can legitimize Colombia’s government and restore democratic order.
Until then, I have no other choice but to suspend my recognition of the legitimacy of the Duque administration. According to my definition, Duque has converted Colombia into a mafia state with dictatorial tendencies.