Colombian NGOs concerned over vote buying
By Manuel Rueda, Editorial Director
Friday, March 12, 2010
NGOs and political groups in Colombia are saying that the campaigns for the the March 14th congressional elections could be the most expensive in the history of the country.
In a recently released report, the National Election Monitoring Mission or MOE, denounced some senate candidates for spending up to 7 billion pesos (USD 3.5 million) on their campaigns when the limit established by Colombian law is approximately 325,000 USD.
Meanwhile, Semana Magazine, estimates that the average senate campaign is costing around 2.5 billion pesos or about 1.25 million dollars.
Analysts and local journalists say some of the money goes towards expensive publicity campaigns and towards under the table payments made to regional media to secure appearances in news shows and opinion programs.
However “most of it,” says political analyst and green party senate candidate Michel Maya, “is going to community leaders” who pay neighborhood residents to vote for a certain candidate and make sure they go to the polls.
Alejandra Barrios, who directs the National Election Monitoring mission, says her organization has received information about vote buying across the country, with individual votes costing 20,000 COP (USD 10) in large cities like Bogota, and up to 140,000 pesos in remote areas like the Guaviare department, where “the population is smaller.”
Barrios´ organization keeps tracks of “electoral risks” like voting fraud, intimidation, and illegally financed campaigns. She says candidates across the country are hiring community leaders who can secure from 200 to 500 votes.
Meanwhile, a recent Gallup poll found that more than twenty percent of Colombians had been offered money, gifts, or favors – such as keeping one´s job at the workplace -- for supporting a candidate in congressional elections.
These are the most likely people to vote, as congressional elections here generally do not arouse the interest of the general population, 70% of whom regularly stay at home.
The large amounts of money being used in this election worry anti-corruption organizations like Transparency International, who fear candidates are taking the money from companies in exchange for the allocation of government contracts once they are in power.
Transparency Colombia Director, Elizabeth Ungar, worries that funds are also coming from illegal organizations. “The difference between Colombia and other countries,” she says, “is the influence of drug trafficking and armed groups.”
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