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2007 Assessment

Colombia: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Colombia: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Election Integrity
Indicators		Score
17	In law, is there an election monitoring agency or set of election monitoring agencies/entities?	100
18	Is the election monitoring agency effective?	55
19	Are elections systems transparent and effective?	75

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

In law, is there an election monitoring agency or set of election monitoring agencies/entities?

17: In law, is there an election monitoring agency or set of election monitoring agencies/entities?

Score:

YES

Comments: The Electoral Organization is the supreme authority for electoral processes and is composed of the National Electoral Council and the National Registry (Registraduria Nacional del Estado Civil). According to the Constitution, the National Electoral Council is the supreme authority to inspect and oversee the electoral process (art. 264 Constitution), and it elects the Registrador Nacional, who has among other functions, the civil registry and identification of persons, the electoral registry and the direction and organization of elections.

Additionally, there are other governmental institutions that have power in monitoring elections and have transitory responsibilities. Those are: the Commission for the Coordination and Follow-up of Electoral Processes (national, regional and municipal), the Special Commission for the Oversight of the Electoral Process in the senate and the lower chamber of congress, and the National Commission for the Coordination of Electoral Affairs of the General Attorney's Office.

References: Constitución Política de Colombia 1991 (art. 264). Consejo Nacional Electoral. www.cne.gov.co

Is the election monitoring agency effective?

18a: In law, the agency or set of agencies/entities is protected from political interference.

Score:

YES

Comments: According to the Constitution, the Electoral Organization is an independent branch of the government, although its election by congress makes it politically dependent from parties and congress.

References: ACTO LEGISLATIVO 01 DE 2003. (Julio 3) "Por el cual se adopta una Reforma Política Constitucional y se dictan otras disposiciones."

Constitución Política de Colombia 1991.

18b: In practice, agency (or set of agencies/entities) appointments are made that support the independence of the agency.

Score:

100

Comments: The Electoral Council is not free from political interference as its members are elected by both chambers of congress from lists proposed by political parties (art. 264 Constitution).

In 2003, there was a Constitutional reform that changed the election system for the Registrador Nacional in order to reduce political interference. The Registrador is now elected by the Presidents of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice and the State Council based on a merit competition. Despite these changes, there is a wide perception of political interference on the electoral agencies.

According to a recent study of the Misión de Observation Electoral (Mission of Electoral Observation, a CSO), the fragility and corruption within the Registraduria constitutes one of the biggest risks for transparency in the upcoming 2007 local elections. The report has identified cases in which personnel from the Registraduria has been involved in cases of electoral fraud during vote counting while altering the registry of votes.

Although the Registraduria Nacional del Estado Civil has an independent system of civil service, it is still falwed. According to a recent survey on institutional performance made among employees of the Registraduria, about 66 percent of employees say there are strong political considerations in appointments, and thus the agency is highly permeated by political interests.

References: ACTO LEGISLATIVO 01 DE 2003. (Julio 3) "Por el cual se adopta una Reforma Política Constitucional y se dictan otras disposiciones."

DANE. 2006. Encuesta de Desempeño institucional, Registraduria Nacional del Estado Civil. Misión de Observación Electoral. 2007. Elecciones en. riesgo.[ LINK ]

Misión de Observación Electoral 2007. Mapa de Riesgo Electoral, Primer Mapa Anomalías e irregularidades electorales. [ LINK ]

18c: In practice, the agency or set of agencies/entities has a professional, full-time staff.

Score:

100

Comments: The National Electoral Council, the supreme electoral authority, does not have enough personnel to fulfill its duties, especially in auditing accounts on party and campaign funding. However it does have a professional, full-time staff. The Registraduria Nacional del Estado Civil does have a professional, full-time staff and an independent civil service regime. However, there is still a wide perception of politicization within the institution and a lack of professionalism of its employees. According to a recent survey on institutional performance conducted among employees of the Registraduria, about 40 percent of those surveyed consider the professional profiles of employees not adequate to fulfill the agency's mandate.

References: Misión de Observación Electoral 2007. Elecciones en riesgo. [ LINK ] Transparency International. Crinis. 2007. Informe financiamiento en América Latina

DANE. 2006. Encuesta Ambiente y Desempeño Institucional Registraduria Nacional del Estado Civil.

Romero, Marco Alberto. 2003. Elecciones, reforma política y garantías electorales. Actualidad Colombiana, Informes Especiales CINEP.

18d: In practice, the agency or set of agencies/entities makes timely, publicly available reports following an election cycle.

Score:

100

Comments: Every year the National Electoral Council has to present an activities report to the congress, but those reports, contrary to other institutions, are not easily accessible online.

According to a recent survey on institutional performance conducted among employees of the Registraduria, the decisions made by this agency are properly publicized.

According to the law, the financial accounts of political parties on political and party funding have to be published once the National Electoral Council has reviewed and certified them, in a newspaper with wide national circulation. It is not clear if this is a responsibility of the parties or of the National Electoral Council, but in the end, these reports are barely known by the citizens, and if they are published, it is not commonly noticed by the population.

References: LEY 130 DE 1994 (Marzo 23) Diario Oficial No. 41280, del 23 de marzo de 1994 "Por la cual se dicta el Estatuto Básico de los partidos y movimientos políticos, se dictan normas sobre su financiación y la de las campañas electorales y se dictan otras disposiciones."

Moreno, Maria Fernanda. 2006. ¿Y las cuentas?. Votebien.com [ LINK ]

DANE. 2006. Encuesta Ambiente y Desempeño Institucional Registraduria Nacional del Estado Civil 2005.

18e: In practice, when necessary, the agency or set of agencies/entities imposes penalties on offenders.

Score:

100

Comments: According to the OAS on its most recent mission of electoral observation in Colombia, the National Commission for the Coordination and Promotion of electoral process has been very effective in giving priority treatment to complaints made on electoral matters for the March and May 2006 elections. The National Commission for the Coordination of Electoral Affairs from the Procuraduria (General Attorney's Office) has been very active and denouncing acts that go against the integrity of the electoral process. However, the institutions of the Electoral Authority (The National Electoral Council and the Registraduria Nacional del Estado Civil) seem slower to act and to take on serious offences against the integrity of the electoral process.

In what refers to violations on the norms of political party funding, the CNE has the faculty to initiate investigations if there are irregularities, however the perception is that even if they are initiated, these reports are barely concluded. Additionally, the perception is that it is difficult to impose sanctions because the priority of the audit on accounts is to review the limits of contributions and to determine the access to public funding, giving a second place to a real review of funding sources.

Informe preliminar de la Misión de Observación Electoral de la OEA sobre las elecciones generales realizadas en Colombia el 28 de mayo de 2006. Palabras de Santiago Murray, Jefe de la Misión de Observación Electoral. [ LINK ].

Are elections systems transparent and effective?

19a: In practice, there is a clear and transparent system of voter registration.

Score:

100

Comments: There is a transparent system of electoral registration that allows voters to check the accuracy of the registration, however it faces some technical problems.

The electoral register is not updated, and therefore, many deceased citizens are still counted in the register. The Mission of Electoral Observation of the European Union for the May 2006 presidential elections suggested that it was necessary to update the electoral register. It is important to note, however, that the Registraduria Nacional has already done some efforts to update the electoral register.

Second, there are still many cases of voter supplanting, for example the counting for the senate had to be done twice after a request of the Procuraduria (general attorney's office) that found 5,700 electoral locations with voter supplanting.

Third, usually voters are able to check the accuracy of their registration on the election date without having enough time to change. In some cases, voters were found to be registered in different locations. For the most recent electoral event (primaries for majors and governors in July 2007) there was a system that permitted citizens to check the registration in easily accesible locations, such as the stations of public transportation system. There have been technical improvements to prevent the "trasteo de votos" (votes moving) a practice through which candidates take voters to an specific location to make them vote for a specific candidate and to be able to check their vote.

References: Misiones Parlamento Europeo y OEA resaltan compromiso democrático. [ LINK ].

Misión de Observación Electoral. 2006. ELECCIONES LEGISLATIVAS, 12 DE MARZO 2006 INFORME PRELIMINAR. www.vivalaciudadania.org

Registraduria Nacional del Estado Civil. www.registraduria.gov.co

19b: In law, election results can be contested through the judicial system.

Score:

YES

Comments: According to the Administrative Contentious Code, there can be nullity actions to claim the nullity of a election, when the candidate does not have the legal or constitutional conditions to take office, when there is fraudulent counting or alteration of ballots, or when there is violence against the tellers of votes.

References: Corporación Transparencia por Colombia. 2002. El sistema nacional de integridad en Colombia. Análisis y resultados del estudio de caso. Cuadernos de Transparencia # 4. Bogotá.

DECRETO 1 DE 1984, (enero 2), Diario Oficial No. 36.439, del 10 de enero de 1984 Por el cual se reforma el Código Contencioso Administrativo. Cahpter IV.

19c: In practice, election results can be effectively appealed through the judicial system.

Score:

100

Comments: There is a "Comité Nacional de Quejas y Delitos Electorales" (National Committee of Complaints and Electoral Offences) that recieves all complaints about irregular counting or about irregularities of the voting process itself. According to the OAS Mission of Electoral Observation, it has been very effective in following up on irregular election processes. For the 2006 congressional election the Procuraduria (general attorney's office) celebrated public audiences in which candidates, electoral witnesses and candidates' attorneys made all the complaints on electoral results. The Procuraduria issued 77 petitions asking the National Electoral Council to accept some and to deny other petitions. In the end, the National Electoral Council denied all petitions.

However, despite the existence of formal appeal mechanisms and the advances made in recent years, the perception is that given the lack of efficiency and politicization of the electoral agencies, there is no effective investigation of irregularities. Additionally, although the administrative jurisdiction has competence to decide on appeals of elections results, the administrative judges do not have proper training to decide on technical matters such as irregular vote counting, and there is little coordination between them and the electoral agencies.

References: MOE ELECCIONES LEGISLATIVAS, 12 DE MARZO 2006 INFORME PRELIMINAR

Procuraduria General de la Nación. 2006. Historia breve y reciente del control electoral de la Procuraduria. www.procuraduria.gov.co/descargas/eventos/foroIEMP_092006_historiacontrolelectoral.doc .

López Medina, Diego E. Democracia, elecciones y Justicia electoral Publicado en: Revista Semana.com (2005-08-26). [ LINK ]

19d: In practice, the military and security forces remain neutral during elections.

Score:

100

Comments: A long-lasting armed conflict in Colombia imposes severe restrictions on elections (even though the security situation for electoral events improved slightly in recent electoral events). This has led to a considerable involvement of armed forces in elections, giving them an important role in controlling the security situation and preventing armed attacks. However, the official role and the practical involvement of armed forces does not touch upon the political choice for elections. In fact, military and police members are banned from voting and participating in political competition.

On the most recent congressional and presidential elections, there was no report about the use of force by police and military members on voters to support certain candidates. In fact, the role of the military has to be that of preventing other armed or political actors from exerting pressure on citizens to support a particular candidate or party. In 2006 there were some reports about police preventing pressures on voters, such as the detention of a candidate who was recording voters in Putumayo (department at the south of the country) in the 2006 congressional elections.

Meanwhile, there were also a few cases reported by the Corporacion Mision de Observacion Electoral of indirect manipulation of voters by public forces. In Ciudad Bolivar, a neighborhood in Bogota, a popular leader showed people the picture of the persons they had to vote for, there was another person writing the ID numbers of people voting, and inside the place there were civilians armed, all of this with the consent of armed forces.

However, it is important to note that, despite the non-political official role of armed forces, there is evidence about the links between some members of the military and paramilitary groups. As paramilitaries have affected elections in certain regions of the country, it is possible to think that some members of the military may have supported paramilitaries in their effort to consolidate political power.

A recent scandal known as "parapolitica" has shown the links existing between paramilitaries and politicians and how those links worked for securing the election of candidates close to paramilitary groups. The results derived from the investigations of this scandal may clearly show the role of some sectors of the military during elections in certain regions of the country, but this role is not completely clear yet. Conservative calculations made by the think tank Seguridad y Democracia considered that at least 60 officials and 120 subofficials from the military man be involved in the "parapolitica" scandal. The extent and details of those links are still to be clarified.

References: Corporación Misión de Observación Electoral, ELECCIONES LEGISLATIVAS, 12 DE MARZO 2006 INFORME PRELIMINAR. www.vivalaciudadania.org

Votebien.com. Asi se voto en uno de los municipios más violentos de Colombia. [ LINK ]

Fundación Seguridad y Democracia. 2006. La magnitud de la verdad del paramilitarismo. [ LINK ]

19e: In law, domestic and international election observers are allowed to monitor elections.

Score:

YES

Comments: Exercises of electoral observation are relatively recent in Colombia and are allowed under the general figure of "veedurias Ciudadanas" or citizen oversight committees, which can be created by any group of citizens or CSOs in order to oversee public administration and management. The Law 996 of 2005, known as Law of Electoral Guarantees, invited a process of international observers to accompany the 2006 presidential elections process. By request of the Colombian government, the OAS and other international bodies can send missions of electoral observation.

References: LEY 996 DE 2005, (noviembre 24), por medio de la cual se reglamenta la elección de Presidente de la República, de conformidad con el artículo 152 literal f) de la Constitución Política de Colombia, y de acuerdo con lo establecido en el Acto Legislativo 02 de 2004, y se dictan otras disposiciones.

Constitucion Política de Colombia 1991, art. 240.

19f: In practice, election observers are able to effectively monitor elections.

Score:

100

$Scoring Criteria :: 100 Score Criteria: Election observers have unfettered access to polling sites, counting stations, and voters themselves. The government does not interfere with the observers\' activities. <p>50 Score Criteria: Election observers generally have access to polling sites, counting stations, and voters but encounter restrictions in certain areas. The government may impose burdensome regulatory or bureaucratic requirements on observers to discourage their involvement. <p>0 Score Criteria: Election observers\' movements are significantly limited by the government and many polling and counting sites are restricted or barred from observers. The government imposes so many bureaucratic or regulatory burdens on the observers that their mission is rendered ineffective.$

Comments: The Law 995 of 2005, known as Law of Electoral Guarantees, invited a process of international observers to accompany the electoral process. By request of the Colombian government, the OAS also deployed a mission of observation. The mission deployed 35 observers from several countries and highlighted that, thanks to the support of the armed forces and the electoral bodies, their mission was completed successfully.

The European Union also deployed a mission of electoral observation with seven observers (Eurodeputies), and the CEPS Foundation deployed one observer for presidential elections and two for congressional elections. For the first time in 2006, there was an organized exercise of electoral observation of the civil society (Corporación Misión de Observación Electoral). The mission deployed 776 volunteer observers in 14 municipalities, including six capital cities, and did not report any substantial threat to their jobs. There was a report of harassment against an electoral observer from the think tank IPC and the National University who denounced that a senator was using a polling station as a campaign base.

References: [ LINK ]" target="_blank">[ LINK ]

Restrepo, Juan Diego. 2006. Amenazan y roban material a Observador electoral. [ LINK ]

Launay, Claire. 2006. La organización de una Misión de Observación Electoral nacional e internacional en las elecciones presidenciales colombianas del 28 de mayo del 2006. Los mecanismos de observación y control ciudadano: ¿un criterio de legitimidad? http://www.institut-gouvernance.org/fr/analyse/fiche-analyse-241.html