Seven months after the regional elections in Colombia, several indicators begin to outline the panorama within the contest. A strong rise in political violence is worrying, there is a large participation of significant groups of citizens and a voluminous registration of parties and movements was presented for the consultations.
In the first case, the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) published the report where the political violence that occurred in 2022 is analyzed. With a balance of 589 attacks against political, social and community leaders, last year was positioned as the most violent for the exercise of leadership in the country since the MOE carries out its monitoring and since the signing of the Peace Agreement with the Farc-EP.
Compared to 2018, the equivalent year in electoral terms, there was an increase of 77.4% in acts of violence against leadersthe increase in attacks against political leaders (which was 169%) being striking, who also faced more lethal violence, because while in 2018 they were the object of 26 attacks and 16 murders, in 2022 they were 44 and 15 , respectively.
Added to this, unlike the historical trend registered in the country, in 2022 political leaders were the most affected, gathering 51.6% of the attacks, a situation that had only occurred in 2019, the year in which elections took place. local. Traditionally, violence against leaders is greater in the context of local elections, so the described panorama warns of the risks and preventive measures that are necessary for the 2023 local elections.
ERegarding lethal violence, 176 events were recorded (104 murders and 72 attacks), of which 35.2% were directed at leaders of a social nature, 33.5% at social leaders, and 31.3% at community leaders.
Additionally, the trend, historically identified, according to which leaderships, the more local, the more lethal violence is maintained, is maintained. So much so that, while the attacks and murders only represented 19.4% of the total attacks against political leaders, in the case of social and communal attacks the percentage was 29.4% and 74.3%, respectively.
Threats were positioned as the most recurring aggression, with a total of 225 records, 84.4% more than in 2018. This is not surprising if we consider that throughout 2022 leadership was especially affected by the occurrence of collective threats, specifically, a total of 35 events aimed at 206 leaders of the country.
In reference to the behavior of violence month by month, it is identified that, with the exception of the months of March and August, political leaders were the most affected throughout 2022. In general terms, the presence of peaks of violence is evident in the months of March and May, key in electoral matters: in March the 2022 legislative elections were held and in May the first presidential round took place.
Explosion of significant movements
As reported by the MOE, for the local elections of 2023 this figure once again presents an increase in its use, since in total for this electoral process, a few months after the registration period of these groups began -on October 29, 2022- To date, 803 committees are already in the process of gathering support in order to seek to endorse a candidacy outside the 31 political parties that currently have legal status.
As usual in recent election processes, the position for which the largest number of significant groups of citizens (GSC)) is to municipal mayoralties. For this cut-off date, the registered groups that seek to endorse mayoral candidates concentrate 85.8% of the total groups, with 689 registered committees.
Compared to the 2019 election, during just over four months of the electoral calendar, which corresponds to the cutoff of this report, a total of 437 GSCs were registered. This shows how, with the same time the process has progressed, the 803 registered groups already exceed the registered groups for the exact same period for the 2019 election by 83.8%.
The EOM points out that this increase may have different explanations, one of which is that in practice these candidates extend the time they spend promoting their candidacy to eight months.. The GSCs can start collecting signatures once they receive the signature collection form, which in theory could be done from the same day they register, if the review by the Registrar’s Office and the delivery of the registration certificate is immediate. , and they have a deadline to deliver the signatures until June 29, 2023, the same day that the registration of candidacies within parties and movements with legal status begins. While they cannot campaign, candidates can make themselves visible by collecting signatures for their GSC.
And also some candidacies, due to the distrust and bad image of political parties by the citizens, seek to be candidates through a GSC to present themselves as independent and not linked to the political class and political parties.
Parties that will be submitted to consultation
Until March 4, significant parties, movements, and groups had the deadline to register with the National Electoral Council (CNE) for popular, internal, or inter-party consultations, with the aim of choosing the candidates who will participate in the electoral contest of the next October 29.
The Registrar’s Office informed that soon these political organizations will be summoned to define what type of consultation will each one do, in which regions and the logistics of these democratic processes.
These consultations will be held on Sunday, June 4, that is, four weeks before the registration of candidates for the October 29 elections begins.
On April 10, according to the electoral calendar, the registrations of the pre-candidates for said consultations will be opened before the different registries. Likewise, the communities that decide to retract their intention to hold consultations will have until May 4 to report their decision. In the same way, May 20 will be the deadline for the draw and designation of the voting juries, that is, 15 days before the consultations.
Parties registered for consultations
LThe 24 political organizations that showed interest in this procedure were: Movimiento Colombia Humana, Partido Conservador ColombianoNational Salvation Movement, Alternative Democratic Pole, Patriotic Union Party, New Liberalism Party, Colombian Liberal Party, Significant Group of El Retiro Citizens, Democratic Center Party, Alternative Indigenous and Social Movement -MAIS-, Green Alliance Party, Radical Change Party, Comunes Party, GSC for Firm Antioquia, League of Rulers Party, Union for the People Party –Partido de la U–, GSC Hechos por Rionegro, Movement of Indigenous Authorities of Colombia –AICO–, Broad Democratic Alliance Party –ADA–, Colombian Communist Party, Resurgent Colombia Party, Colombia Justa Libres Party, Green Oxygen Party and Independent Movement.