The upcoming presidential and congressional elections in Colombia will be observed by a delegation of the Organization of American States (OAS).
The OAS’s Assistant Secretary General, Albert R. Ramdin, and Colombia’s Permanent Representative to the OAS, Ambassador Luis Alfonso Hoyos, signed an agreement on Wednesday authorizing over 100 international observers to monitor Colombia’s congressional elections on March 14, presidential elections on May 30, and potential second-round presidential elections on June 20, an official OAS press release stated.
According to the press release, the first team of OAS election specialists will arrive to Colombia in late February to “plan the Mission and report on the pre-election situation.”
The press release went on to explain that “the agreement signed between the … OAS and the government of Colombia is the first step toward guaranteeing that the Electoral Observation Mission can conduct its work appropriately. The Procedure Agreement, to be signed in the near future, will further define access and the basic rules of the observers’ visit.”
The OAS has traditionally played a major role in the observation of elections and “has demonstrated great strength over the past 15 years,” claimed the OAS official, “not only in terms of the assistance that we provide to countries during their electoral processes but also in the reports we present with recommendations and results of the observation.”
The OAS is the oldest regional organization in the world, dating back to 1889. Its purpose is the promotion of democracy, human rights, security, and development in the Western Hemisphere.