Colombia: Facing Illegal Political Campaigning

Alongside Congress elections, Presidential pre-candidates will be voted in on Sunday in Colombia. As the polls open March 13, the Ministry of the Interior ruled a decree indicating that from midnight onwards, no political campaigning or advertising could be performed by the pre-candidates.

RELATED:
Colombia: Foreign Electoral Observers Warn About Irregularities

Although the political campaign is banned, eight of the 15 Presidential pre-candidates enlisted in the presidential consultations are doing electoral propaganda. The candidates are have posted videos and photos on their social media, urging Colombian people to vote for them.

Francia Marques, the leader of the Historic Pact party, infringed the resolution, alongside all candidates from the Green Coalition Centro Esperanza party who also made this type of publication. From the Team for Colombia party, Alejandro Char tweeted: #MarcaAlexChar and Federico Gutiérrez from the same party posted a video inviting people to vote for him.

"On election day, political campaigning and election propaganda are prohibited on any stage. We cannot hand out flyers, we cannot wear t-shirts with images alluding to electoral campaigns and therefore, we cannot do it on social networks either," Rafael Vargas, secretary-general of the National Electoral Council, stated, according to the resolution issued by the Ministry of the Interior.

Nacional | Before the Election Day of Sunday, March 13, 2022, in Colombia, the elections to Congress, as well as the presidential consultations, the Ministry of the Interior issues decree 318 of 2022

Armando Novoa, the former magistrate of the National Electoral Council,  joined Vargas' statements. Novoa noted that it should be understood that social networks are "one of the expressions through which a message of support for a particular candidate can be disseminated. Strictly speaking, such conduct is prohibited. No candidate should call on citizens through social media to vote for him or her."

Sanctions over the pre-candidates could reach up to 5 000 legal monthly minimum wages under the charges of illegal outdoor visual advertising. The infringers will be subject to pertinent investigations.