At least two charges are contemplated in the paper being studied at the CNE once morest the promoters of the recall of Mayor Daniel Quintero, which was analyzed last night in a plenary session, considering that they incurred in a series of irregularities of an administrative nature and that -among other things – might end up definitively knocking down the process with which they seek to remove the president.
At least that is how it was stated in the presentation that Judge César Abreo, of the Liberal Party and close to former President César Gaviria, officially delivered on Tuesday followingnoon to his colleagues in the Plenary Chamber of the National Electoral Council (CNE).
This document, according to sources from the same electoral court, states that the revokers would have exceeded the limits of the law, established at 236 million pesos. And although the promoters of the process say that they corrected the information, because what was presented as a high cost ended up being a donation, for Judge Abreo this is an irregularity that must be analyzed.
In addition, doubts are raised regarding the non-payment of the fees of the people who officiated as accountants and auditors. Although the recall was designed in three stages – collection of signatures, campaign and closing – and for each one there was a different contract signed with the people who held those positions, the contracts were terminated following the accounting report was sent to the CNE.
The recallers warn that this was duly justified later before the electoral body, but the paper states that it is an irregularity that must be investigated and that, therefore, it ruins the entire process.
This situation, which had already been anticipated by EL COLOMBIANO, was exposed in a document sent to Abreo’s office by the National Fund for Political Financing of the CNE, an organization that cannot certify the accounts of a campaign, in this case that of the revocation of Quintero, but warn of possible inconsistencies as it has already done.
In any case, it is the Plenary Chamber of the CNE -composed of 9 magistrates- that must vote whether or not to endorse that presentation, and for it to pass, which would result in the fall of Quintero’s recall, at least 6 are needed votes.
In this context, the Mayor of Medellín has insistently blamed the plasterers, accusing them of the irregularities that arise in the presentation, and the promoters have responded that what he is doing is delaying a process that, in his opinion, does have the political and citizen support to remove him from office.
The Chamber met yesterday until following 8:00 pm without making a decision. Today the study of the paper will continue
