Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office arrested 12 people including a former mayor and three candidates for allegedly tampering with voter registration forms.
This is former Zambrano mayor Sebastian Cañas’ second arrest on voter fraud charges. In 2014, the politician from the northern Bolivar province was arrested, charged and subsequently suspended for allegedly tampering with the congressional elections. He has now also been charged with violating the terms of his house arrest.
In Meta, two candidates for mayor and one candidate for city council were arrested for bribing and transporting 50 individuals, the majority from Bogota, to vote in their favor.
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Others arrested in the bust include six staffers of the San Sebastian Hospital in Zambrano. The hospital management is being accused of pressuring their employees into voting for Jesus David Duran, a candidate for mayor of Zambrano and for Francisco Causado for City Council, both members of the Liberal Party.
As part of a crackdown on voter fraud, the Prosecutor General’s Office identified 600 people who registered to vote in places where they have no roots.
According to Vice Prosecutor General Jorge Fernando Perdomo, “We are not capturing people who incautiously or with out knowing are being pressured to register, but we are going after those who are orchestrating these political maneuvers in favor of political campaigns in openly criminal actions.”
The Prosecutor General’s office is investigating those campaigns that would benefit from this voter fraud.
In advance of the upcoming October elections the Prosecutor General’s Office will expand its investigations into the Meta municipalities of Castilla la Nueva, Puerto Rico, Cabuyaro and Puerto Rico.