Legislative elections in Colombia are characterized by having the least participation, since in the last three elections that have been held participation is less than 50 per cent of those eligible to vote. According to figures from the National Civil Status Registry, 98% of the total number of polling stations only 45.87 per cent of Colombian voters participated.
Regardless of the low turnout, another problem that afflicts Colombian democracy is void votes. According to the Registrar's Office, 819,911 votes were canceled in the 2022 Senate elections and 955,338 in the House of Representatives, for a total of 1,775,249 votes canceled throughout the electoral contest to elect the new Congress.
Although the figure may sound scandalous, it is identified that since 2010 the number of invalid votes for both the Senate and the House of Representatives has been lowered.
In the 2010 Senate votes, the Registrar's Office reported 1,558,737; for 2014, 1,476,737; 2015 1,151,181 and in 2022, 819,911 invalid votes. On the side of the House of Representatives in 2010 the invalid votes were 2,002,905, in 2014 1,753,587; in 2018, 1,676,340 and in 2022, 955,338.
Read on: This would be the distribution of the House of Representatives
These figures reflect a considerable decrease in the last 10 years, although on the side of blank votes they increased, from 4.51 per cent in 2018 to 6.38 per cent in 2022.
Despite the low numbers of votes in the legislatures, the interparty consultations had an increase in the participation of Colombians. The Registrar announced that more than 12.2 million people voted to elect candidates for the 2022 Presidency. It was 2.5 million more than in the 2018 elections when 9.7 million Colombians elected Gustavo Petro and Iván Duque as winners of the consultations.
Colombia has already elected its representatives to the House and Senate, as well as the presidential candidates of the Team for Colombia, Centro Esperanza and Historic Pact coalitions. According to the national registrar, Alexander Vega, the elections were conducted in total calm, despite the fact that there were two attacks in the country in the middle of the elections.
The Registrar thanked the 130,000 officials who participated in the day and stated that “more than 112,000 tables functioned normally in the country and abroad. For the first time in Colombia's electoral history, polling stations were opened in rural areas, complying with the election of peace seats. The commitment of the National Registry, from this moment on as guarantors of democracy, continues with the pre-counting of the votes.”
He added that, “we can give a balance of tranquility to all Colombians, today people went out to elect their next spokespersons in the House, in the Senate, in the Peace Seats and the candidates of the different coalitions (...) here we started the work of accounting for results.”
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