In addition to being the leaders –according to the polls– in the race for the Casa de Nariño, Federico Gutierrez y Gustavo Petro would have exceeded number of fences placed in some municipalities in which they campaign.
According to a map prepared by the National Electoral Council – together with Sergio Fajardo y John Milton Rodriguez–, these candidates would exceed the cap of eight hurdles per city in three departments of the country.
At least that is what the territorial entities have reported to the CNE in AntiochRisaralda and Valle, places that became the favorites when with posters, parades and billboards the desire to win the Presidency on May 29.
In the midst of this intention, the one with the most reports of this type of excess, according to the CNE, is Federico Gutiérrez, who leads the table with 18 municipalities and a parade in Pereira, Risaralda.
After that first place in the Risaraldense capital, Antioquia appears, and the former mayor of Medellín also comes into play, since he registers three alleged excesses in the department.
And although in Caldas only eight are allowed, there he would have 13; in Medellín has 11 and in Envigado with nine. He is not far behind his contenders Petro and Fajardo, protagonists of other passes.
As for the leader of the Historical Pact, the CNE registered the alleged excess in Caldas. In said municipality, he has even more publicity than Gutiérrez, since has 15 parades and a notice. While Fajardo would have been found in Envigado 10 parades and a billboard, which made him deserve to also appear on the red list of candidates.
From the Mayor’s Office of Caldas, the Secretary of Planning, David Ocampo, sent this newspaper an audio in which he said that the information from the CNE regarding his municipality is wrong and that, for the same reason, they will ask him this Friday to rectify: “Very surely they added parades that have nothing to do with billboards.”
In any case, these figures might be increased, since there were territorial entities that did not report the amounts to the CNE. One of them was Bogotá, which did not pass the report, but because it is the capital it allows up to 16 fences for each applicant, according to Resolution 1605 of 2021.
The campaigns speak
Once the CNE publication came out, this newspaper took on the task of consulting the four questioned campaigns if they had a different report of fences installed.
From those of Federico and Petro they did not answer; however, those of Rodríguez and Fajardo did. The first assured, with documents and photos on board, that in Cali they only have eight.
And from the Fajardo team they explained that in Envigado they only have a fence, because the rest are parades approved by the Mayor’s Office. Although that is true, the report did not exclude them, since it adds both advertisements. However, the campaign said that they might present a rectification to the CNE in order to clarify the accounts.
Possible sanctions
The Plenary Chamber ordered each municipality to removal of fences that violate the rule, and announced that the Attorney General’s Office is already investigating mayors who have not passed their reports.
As far as candidates are concerned, if they continue with these practices, the CNE might fine their campaigns from two to 20 million pesosaccording to Law 130 of 1994.
