Designing and printing the electoral ballots, ensuring their custody, national and international transport, and coordinating everything related to telecommunications are part of the logistical framework that the Registry must implement as soon as possible to comply with the constitutional deadlines for the second round of presidential elections, which will take place in less than three weeks and in which Abelardo de la Espriella and Iván Cepeda, the two most voted candidates on Sunday in the first round, will compete.
The electoral authority received from the Ministry of Finance the certificate of budgetary availability for approximately one billion pesos, a requirement that will allow it to make the necessary budgetary additions to activate the logistical components of the second round foreseen in the comprehensive logistical solution contract awarded in mid-2025.
Said contract already contemplated a potential runoff, but the Government could not disburse those resources in advance until the results of the first round were formally declared and the holding of a second round was confirmed.
The national registrar, Hernán Penagos, highlighted that, once 100 percent of the scrutiny by the judges of the Republic throughout the country has concluded, as well as the consolidation of results abroad —where claims did not exceed 0.7 percent of the total tables installed—, progress can be made in the planning and organization of the second round on June 21.
“I want to thank the judges of the Republic and the judicial officials who have so diligently carried out this scrutiny and have allowed us to advance quickly in the preparation of the second round elections,” said Registrar Penagos, who added that the idea is to reinforce the training of polling station jurors before June 21.
The National Registry formally requested the funds from the portfolio led by Germán Ávila, from where they had previously informed this newspaper that they were awaiting said request to proceed with the disbursement. That is, the ball was in the hands of President Gustavo Petro’s government, which by constitutional mandate is obliged to transfer these resources immediately to guarantee the normality of elections that must be organized in less than three weeks.
“Next week, all the movement of sending electoral paperwork abroad must begin, because one week before (June 15) we start elections abroad. We have very little time, and there can be no delays from the Ministry of Finance or anyone; this has to work like clockwork. We have maintained conversations with all authorities, and so far, we have no news that the decision has been made not to deliver the resources to the Registry; we are on the normal schedule,” explained Alejandra Barrios, director of the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), minutes before the Registry received the certificate of budgetary availability.
The Attorney General’s Office paid special attention to this equation, with direct communication between Minister Germán Ávila and Attorney Gregorio Eljach to ensure that no setbacks occurred.
The first institutional meeting to monitor the electoral process is scheduled for this Thursday, where oversight bodies, political organizations, and control entities wishing to attend will be informed about it. The national registrar is expected to present his balance and socialize the ballot proposal for the definitive day. Likewise, a new Electoral Monitoring Commission is scheduled for next week, where authorities will report on progress and developments related to the organization of the elections.
Although the deadline to organize the second round is short, the Registry is not starting from scratch. The possibility of a runoff has been contemplated since the planning of the presidential elections, so much of the logistics are already defined. The main difference is the electoral ballot, which must be redesigned and printed with the names of the two candidates who advanced to the definitive round (Abelardo de la Espriella and Iván Cepeda).
However, the electoral organization has only 11 calendar days to distribute this electoral material in 67 countries, where the potential number of voters amounts to 1.4 million citizens, 46.5 percent more than in the 2022 presidential elections.
Political Editorial
