The election that saw Juan Manuel Santos reelected Colombia’s president on Sunday were the safest in recent history, said both the ministries of defense and interior.
The Ministry of Defense reported no recorded terrorist attacks against voters. According to the ministry 2014 will be remembered as ‘the most safe year to exercise democracy.’
“In the country only one single terrorist act was recorded with two vehicles burned on Quibdo [street] – Medellín, an act that did not affect the right of those who went to the polls,” said defense minister Juan Carlos Pinzon.
In Barranquilla one person was arrested for voter fraud and one in Cordoba for voter corruption. In Arauca, Cucuta and Santander four arrests were recorded for false possession of identity cards, according to the Ministry of Defense.
The security forces also confiscated 52,304 units of election advertising to be illegally distributed near the polling stations.
Colombia’s Ministry of Interior announced in a statement that “the most important point is that the government have served the country with the most quiet and most safe election in the country’s recent history.”
The ministry also underlined the fact that the abstention vote in the second round election was approximately 53% compared to first rounds 60%, the drop in the abstention rate meant an increase of more than two million voters across the country.
“As well as the national soccer team served the country, the citizens served Colombia and went to the polls to defend democracy,” Minister of Interior Aurelio Iragorri Valencia stated.
According to Colombia’s national police and defense ministry 437,000 members of the security forces provided security during the second round of the presidential election while 246,000 police and military guarded 99.9% of the country’s 87,499 polling stations.
The Ministry of Defense and the national police announced on their Twitter accounts that 38 people were arrested for other crimes unrelated to the election and that 121 firearms were confiscated on the day of the election.
During the 12 hours prior to the polls opening, 122 people were arrested for various crimes and 106 firearms were confiscated of which 72 were for illegally carrying and 34 for violating the restrictions set in the election security decree according to the national police.