One of the candidates to replace Bogota‘s suspended mayor Samuel Moreno, who is investigated for corruption, withdrew her candidacy Thursday over controversy regarding her connections to Moreno’s administration.
Bogota’s Economic Development Secretary, Mariela Barragan, announced renunciation of her candidacy, after Juan Manuel Santos stated that she was unfit as a replacement because of her direct involvement in Moreno’s battered administration.
“In an effort to facilitate my party to recover control over the city and to assure that the process of the shortlist is dispensed as quickly as possible, like the citizens of the capital today demanded, I took the decision to withdraw my inclusion in the list submitted by [political party] the Polo Democratico Alternative to the President of the Republic,” Barragan said in a statement.
The politician’s withdrawal came hours after Santos decided to let the Council of State take the decision of whether to allow Barragan to be part of the shortlist.
According to Colombian law, the head of state is to choose the replacement for a suspended mayor from a shortlist supplied by the mayor’s political party. In the meantime, the president can appoint an acting mayor from any political party.
In the case of Bogota, Santos appointed his education minister to act as mayor, until he and the Polo Democratico determine who will be the legitimate mayor of Bogota until October’s local elections.