International monitors arrive ahead of Colombia’s presidential elections

Carlos Ariel Sanchez (Photo: Noticias RPTV)

International observers and monitors have arrived in Colombia to assist the country’s election body National Registrar to ensure a safe voting process for the nation’s presidential elections on Sunday, national media reported on Friday.

Colombian Registrar Carlos Ariel Sanchez will coordinate with judges from the Electoral Council as well as oversight committee members from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the director of the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), Alejandra Barrias, with the mission of running a smooth and secure voting process, according to Colombia’s Caracol Radio.

The meeting was to be held at the Radisson Hotel in Colombia’s capital, Bogota at 12PM where the election officials and international observers were to address election security issues in areas where there has historically been an increased risk in fraud.

One measure that the Colombian government has taken to combat voter fraud has been through the use of technical devices such as Virtual Private Networks (VPN), or clouds, which are private networks within public networks.

MORE: Use of advanced technology will stop fraud: Colombia’s election administrator

VPNs are meant to allow electoral officials real-time results and access to information throughout the voting process.

Colombia’s presidential elections take place this Sunday between incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos and hardline opposition candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga.

Sources

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