The leader of the Liberal Party said Wednesday that there is a “clear influence of public money in the electoral process.”
Rafael Pardo, the Liberal Party’s director, has asked authorities to investigate possible diversions of public money into political campaigns. Pardo requested that authorities not only examine the influence armed groups have on elections, but also to focus their attention on state resources in campaigns.
“We’re seeing that armed groups are not the only threat [to campaign integrity], which has been ongoing in the country and exists in some regions, but another risk to democracy is the use of public money to illegally finance political campaigns.”
Pardo explicitly denounced municipality mayors for using public money to fund their campaigns. “Public money could affect the will of voters… just ask in any municipality whether the mayor is a candidate,” the Liberal leader said.