Currently only 20% of Colombian congressmen are women, one of the lowest figures in the entire region. Gladys Serrano
When the Western world defends democracy in the face of Russia's inclement bombardment of Ukraine, which keeps humanity in suspense due to the danger of the outbreak of the Third World War, political bombs fired from different fronts explode in Colombia, keeping our weak democracy at bay. brink of collapse, precisely on the cusp of the presidential elections most marked by extremism and radicalisation.
The country is going through dark days due to the erosion of a value that was its great democratic capital: the legitimacy of its electoral system, expressed in respect for the rules of the game and compliance with its decisions.
The highest administrative electoral authority, the national registrar of civil status, has requested to recount all the votes cast to elect the Senate of the Republic, with the purpose of establishing the electoral truth, although it later backed down.
Such a petition has no legal basis, it has no record, it is made without competition and it ignores the opinion of the electoral authorities, which are the voting juries and the scrutinizing commissions, who have been responsible by law to identify said truth.
It would be like returning to zero the work done to date, for a clean slate with a complex procedure taken from the sleeve, almost unexecutable from the logistical point of view.
There are two rules indicative of the beginning of the process of dismantling a democracy, as Steve Levitsky has pointed out: disrespect for the rules of the democratic game and denial of the legitimacy of the adversary, who has become a deadly enemy.
Not to mention the lack of knowledge of the independence of judges and the autonomy of control bodies.
Colombia cannot afford the worrying luxury of defending its democracy by dismembering its own institutions in the middle of the most contentious electoral campaign that we have experienced in recent times.
Listening to the initial proposal of the registrar would be collective suicide.
A move that would be quite expensive for us and that we would regret for decades.
To accept it would be to start a much more tragic path that would deepen polarization and open new cycles of violence.
In the 1960s, precisely, many chose the armed path with the argument that it was impossible to achieve changes through democratic means.
If not through the polls, how can we guarantee that Colombia consolidates its democracy?
The registrar has holidayed its credibility.
He pointed out, in the first instance, that there was no possible fraud in the process, because the territorial scrutinizing commissions would already correct the nonconformities in the processing of some forms -the E14- regarding the ballots actually paid;
but then, paradoxically, he indicated that the only way forward was to recount all the votes, questioning the decisions made by the more than 5,000 scrutineers, represented by judges, as worthless or vitiated from the outset.
Under no circumstances can any act of an electoral body be carried out without respect for the rule of law.
The electoral process is regulated and its procedure is governed by rules that define the procedures, with no room for discretion.
This is an achievement that cannot be ignored, since changing the rules of the game or inventing new instances threatens legal certainty and democratic stability.
Every election must be preceded by a constitutional and legal regulatory framework that establishes those rules of the game in an incontrovertible way.
It is clear that the law does not contemplate a general recount, based on generic assertions, requested by an authority that lacks that competence –president or registrar-, when the electoral justice has adopted decisions in the course of the scrutiny carried out.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) is responsible for consolidating and validating the ballots, reviewing the pending specific claims and accrediting the electoral truth resulting from the process, without the legal proceeding of a general recount, unless there is a judicial decision -not administrative- that I ordered it.
It is, therefore, an unprecedented and dangerous request that, instead of favoring citizen confidence, opens an insurmountable gap in terms of electoral legitimacy.
A very risky bet with unforeseeable consequences for the legitimacy of an electoral system that today passes its litmus test in the midst of a toxic polarization that is leaving Colombia more fractured than ever.
Because sponsoring the polarization of the country through formulas that are not provided for in the rules of the democratic game represents a leap into the void that delegitimizes the electoral organization and casts doubt on its ability to respond to the challenge of a presidential election in the making.
It is not going to bring peace of mind to relativize the electoral rules by interpreting them according to the interests of those who win or lose.
It is time to act with civic restraint.
Leadership is demanded from the authorities capable of clarifying what happened and consolidating the institutional framework more than those who are in charge of the institutions, so as not to favor those who seek to exacerbate destabilization, as a way to succeed or to prevent someone else from winning.
The checks and balances established in the 1991 Constitution have been damaged enough to open the door to greater uncertainty based on the collapse of the rule of law that has cost us so much effort to build.
Democracy requires recognizing that anyone can win at the polls if they respect the rules of the game of the rule of law.
Denying this condition contradicts its essence and compromises the stability of a society that, beyond its leaders, testifies to democratic conviction.
Just as important as voting is trusting the polls.
We must prevent the demolition of institutions and this goes beyond their rhetorical defense, which includes acknowledging the clean victory of the adversary at the polls.
The inheritance of a president to the new generations is the tranquility as power is transferred and the certainty that his successor was elected with full guarantees and absolute transparency.
If that transition does not take place peacefully and whoever wins does not have full legitimacy, we will witness a new stage of political obscurantism that will favor illegal forces and those who make politics with weapons.
It is time for greatness, to think ahead and allow equanimity to act.
Failure to do so will be to vote blindfolded for a future of hate, tyranny and revenge.
Good sense, gentlemen, it is democracy that can die in our own hands.
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