Violence and threats posed by illegal armed groups to Colombia’s presidential elections has surged over the past few months, the Ombudsman’s Office and non-government organizations warned.

Multiple NGO’s and the government’s human rights agency additionally agree that violence has increased dramatically compared to 2018.

Both the Ombudsman’s Office and the independent Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) updated their threat assessments in response to a surge in violence following congressional elections in March.

The updated assessments relate to the threat posed by illegal armed groups related to the presidential elections.

Major surge in violence

The independent Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) said Wednesday that it had registered 683 acts of violence against politicians, human rights defenders and community leaders during the electoral year.

This is more than double than the 322 registered in the same period in 2018, according to the MOE.

Acts of electoral violence

The electoral observers stressed the prevalence of aggression against volunteers who are campaigning for one of the  candidates in the first election round on Sunday.

The Ombudsman’s Office said last week that 70 human rights defenders and community leaders were assassinated between April and May this year.

Assassinated social leaders between January and April

Threats posed by illegal armed groups

The Ombudsman’s Office, the MOE and think tank Paz y Reconciliacion (Pares) also registered an increase in the threats posed by armed conflict and by illegal armed groups.

According to the MOE, illegal armed groups pose some level of threat to almost 45% of the country’s voters, mainly because of recent paramilitary activity in cities in northern Colombia.

In rural areas, guerrilla group ELN and dissidents of now-defunct guerrilla group FARC additionally pose a threat.

In total, the illegal armed groups pose a threat to voter participation in 375 of Colombia’s approximately 1,100 municipalities, according to the MOE.

The Ombudsman’s Office said that the number of municipalities with a high or extreme risk of violence increased from 274 in March to 290.

During the 2018 elections, only 200 municipalities were either at a high or extreme risk of violence of by groups like paramilitary organization AGC and guerrilla group ELN guerrilla.

Change in risk between 2018 and 2022

All organizations said that the threat in northern Colombia increased mainly because of the AGC while guerrilla groups would pose the main threat in the south of the country.

The United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA warned that a recent surge in forced displacement in western Colombia threatened to impede these victims’ right to vote.

Pares warned on Wednesday that the alleged death of FARC dissident leader “Gentil Duarte” could trigger violence in the south and southeast of the country.