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Original article: Petro no reconoce preconteo que da ventaja a De la Espriella y Cepeda exige revisar votos por inconsistencias electorales

Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced his rejection of the preliminary vote count from the first electoral round, citing irregularities in the data transmission system and alleging that over 800,000 ballots were added for voters not registered in the official census. In response to these inconsistencies, Pacto Histórico candidate Iván Cepeda demanded transparency and a thorough review of the votes.

«The transmitted count has no binding authority; its data are not public standards. As president, I do not accept the preliminary results from the private firm of the Bautista brothers, as the counting software algorithms should have remained stable yet varied three times in the past week, adding 800,000 ballots belonging to individuals not included in the official census,» he stated in a post on his X account.

According to the National Registry’s official results, with 99.9% of polling stations counted, far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella from the Defensores de la Patria movement obtained 43.74% of the votes (10,359,902), while the progressive Iván Cepeda reached 40.90% (9,687,508). Since neither candidate secured the majority needed in the elections held Sunday, they will face off in a second round on June 21.

In his statement, Petro noted that the challenges filed reveal inconsistencies in the process and discrepancies in the number of votes compared to the number of voters who went to the polls.

«The challenged polling stations show that hundreds of thousands of votes were added without actual voters,» he indicated.

Additionally, the president informed that according to the law, «the binding results that the president will uphold and accept are those from the electoral commissions overseen by the judges of the Republic,» he stated.

Cepeda Calls for Vote Review Due to Electoral Irregularities

In light of the inconsistencies and anomalies with the electoral census and polling stations showing atypical voting behaviors, Iván Cepeda called for clarity and a review of the votes cast by citizens.

«There are two situations that are currently quite confusing. The President of the Republic (Gustavo Petro) has spoken clearly about one of them. There is a discrepancy we want to verify regarding the electoral census. This is not a trivial matter. We are talking about 885,000 people or ballots. We want, as serious individuals, for this to be clarified,» he argued.

The ruling party candidate denounced that there is “information and indications” of polling stations with alleged “atypical voting.”

It should be noted that the preliminary count is an informational and provisional process, based on data from the polling stations, while the official counting is a more detailed process, where electoral commissions review records, forms, and even, if necessary, the actual votes cast by citizens, making it the only legally valid process to determine who won an election in Colombia.

“We make it clear to the public: only when the electoral commissions fully clarify this issue, transparently and rigorously, will we address the results from tonight,” Cepeda said, referring to the “grievances” he has faced during the presidential campaign and the political manipulation by the National Electoral Council against his candidacy.

He recalled that prior to the Pacto Histórico consultation to elect candidates for Congress and the Presidency, “thousands of polling positions were changed.

“Hundreds of thousands of people were unable to exercise their voting rights because of this situation that was never clarified. Furthermore, remember that an inter-party consultation was planned. My candidacy was vetoed by the National Electoral Council,” he condemned.

The Pacto Histórico candidate also criticized the interference from foreign governments and political actors aligned with Washington’s interests in the electoral contest, citing former Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno and the current Ecuadorian leader, Daniel Noboa, as reported by TeleSUR.

Specifically, he referred to Noboa’s recent statements concerning candidate Abelardo de la Espriella.

“It’s a vulgar, open, and blatant intervention. We are not inventing this; we are asking the electoral commissions to do their job,” he asserted.

La entrada Petro Rejects Preliminary Vote Count Favoring De la Espriella as Cepeda Calls for Vote Review Due to Electoral Irregularities se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.