Tensions in northern Colombia over election fraud claims

Tensions surged in northern Colombia because of disputed local election results.

The governor of La Guajira, Diala Wilches, called on the government to send extra police after protesters in the town of Manaure attacked a local registry office and allegedly tried to storm city hall.

Atentos: Muy delicada situación a esta hora en Manaure, La Guajira, por diferencias en conteo de votos. Incendiaron la sede de la Registraduría. Hay varios militares heridos. Vía @BluRadioCo pic.twitter.com/ImzWOoyzZ5

— Ricardo Ospina (@ricarospina) October 31, 2023

According to Wilches, local authorities need more police to protect the election officials who are involved in the verification of votes that were cast on Sunday.

“The National Registry officials and the judges want to leave the area because they feel vulnerable,” said Wilches on Monday.

The violence was reportedly perpetrated by people who opposed the election victory of Mayor-elect Jhon Galvi Pimienta of the liberal U Party.

In the neighboring Magdalena province, former Governor Carlos Caicedo of the progressive Citizen Force party said that police in the capital Santa Marta was not doing enough to protect the verification process.

Caicedo called on national authorities and independent observers to monitor the verification of votes cast in the Santa Marta mayoral elections.

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The runner-up in Santa Marta, Carlos Pineda, said progressive candidate Jorge Luis Agudelo won because of “the biggest electoral theft in the history of the district of Santa Marta.”

Agudelo won the elections with 282 votes more than his opponent, according to the National Registry’s preliminary vote count that was published on Sunday.

Caicedo published multiple voter forms allegedly proving that “electoral mafias” tried to inflate the number of votes cast for the conservative candidate.

The tensions followed local elections that — despite the death of one election official in the northern Cesar province — were among the calmest in Colombian history, according to the National Police.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, 47 people were arrested on charges related to election fraud throughout Colombia.