A draft legislative act came to the House of Representatives that seeks to allow the military and police to vote. Beyond political participation, the initiative pursues the objective of creating special seats so that the uniformed officers can choose and be elected while in service.
The idea came from the League of Anticorruption Governors, the movement with which Rodolfo Hernández tried to reach the Presidency, and its objective is that the 450,000 people active in the Public Force recover the power that was taken away from them 90 years ago in the midst of the tensions between liberals and conservatives.
The proposal intends to modify article 219 of the Constitution so that the uniformed officers can vote, but not publicly express their political leanings, much less participate in open debates in the midst of elections. In traditional terms: they might vote, but not deliberate.
Politicization?
The debate on the right to vote between those who make up the Armed Forces and the Police is an old discussion that is reactivated from time to time during election seasons and with the renewal of Congress.
The uniformed men stopped paying in 1932 when the government of Enrique Olaya Herrera sought to depoliticize the forces to have troops only at the service of the State, not for a political cause. That line was drawn by Law 72 of 1930, which detailed that the Armed Forces are not deliberate.
In simpler words, it ended up taking away from the members of the armed forces the possibility of participating politically while they are in active service, a power that they recover when they leave the barracks to lead their civilian lives.
The Public Force in Colombia is apolitical and nonpartisan, which means that on paper it has no political interests and is not aligned with a community.
However, the treatment given to the men and women who have the arms of the State in their hands changes depending on the country you look at. In the United States, they are considered citizens in uniform and can vote, but not deliberate.
The same happens in other continents such as Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. Other nations in the region entered an extreme politicization of the Public Force, such as Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela, since they allow the troops to vote and participate in the public electoral debate.
The issue returned to the country’s legislative agenda at the initiative of the representative to the Chamber for Santander, Juan Manuel Cortés, who was in service for nine years as a helicopter pilot. “Everyone is afraid that the forces will politicize, but we all have the right. Do those who are imprisoned have more rights because they can vote and the military can’t?” questions Cortés.
Vote in a country in conflict
The discussion regarding the vote of the soldiers touches nerves due to the role of the forces in citizen and rural security, since Colombia is still in the midst of an armed conflict despite the signing of peace with the FARC and the reactivation of dialogue with the ELN guerrilla in Cuba.
Those most attached to traditions believe that “if it is decided that the military should vote, we are going to be in serious trouble”. This is stated by John Marulanda from the Association of Retired Officers of the Colombian Military Forces (Acore), who is blunt in stating that the correct thing is that the forces are not allowed to participate because, if they were given the license to do so, they would be engaging in partisan activity.
In the discussion that is being reopened with the new Congress, Representative Cortés’ project considers that the military and police, as public servants, should be treated the same as state employees who do not wear uniforms. That is, contractors are not restricted in exercising their civil rights.
The initiative has already obtained the signature of 22 congressmen and will seek a space in the already tight legislative agenda of the government. If he succeeds, he will need eight debates to turn around a policy of almost a century
