The figure is nearly double the number of candidates killed during the run up to the last local elections in 2007
BOGOTA (TrustLaw) - Political violence in Colombia has claimed the lives of 41 candidates running for office ahead of local elections, El Tiempo reports.
The figure is nearly double the number of candidates killed during the run up to the last local elections in 2007 when 21 candidates were killed, the newspaper says, citing figures from a local election watchdog, the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE).
Around 30 million Colombians are entitled to vote to choose new governors, mayors and town councillors and deputies on Oct. 30.
Most of the killings are attributed to criminal gangs linked to drug trafficking and leftist rebels from Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who are fighting over the control of drug smuggling routes, resources, and territorial control in some parts of the country.
In oil and mining areas in eastern and northern Colombia, election violence and fraud, including vote-buying, intimidation, falsifying documents and tampering with voter lists, is particularly high, the newspaper says. Local governments largely control energy and mining resources for territories, handling multi-million dollar budgets.
Around 140 candidates running for office have proven and/or alleged links with armed groups and or known drug traffickers, the newspaper reports.
The lack of transparency in campaign finance is also a cause of concern, with fears that criminal gangs and drug traffickers are bankrolling some candidates they approve of.
“It’s the hardest problem to control,” said Colombia's interior minister, German Vargas, referring to the issue in a weekend interview with the paper. He said 120 candidates running for local office have failed to meet government deadlines to provide information about their campaign costs and donations.
The government’s failure to tackle pre-election violence has been criticised by El Tiempo, Colombia’s leading daily. In recent months, numerous reports by local non-governmental organisations and the government have warned of the high risk of pre-election violence in specific areas of the country.
“.. it remains to be asked why the state apparatus has been incapable of preventing this high level of electoral violence which these reports, including official ones, have warned of,” said an editorial in El Tiempo newspaper.
The government has deployed nearly 360,000 troops across Colombia to ensure peaceful elections.
Allegations of vote buying in the local press and among those running for office have also been widespread in the run up to polling.
One candidate from the Liberal Party running for local governor, Juan Carlos Gossain, has demanded the government open an investigation into how food meant for flood victims is being offered in exchange for votes in some areas of the country.
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