Colombia’s CNE investigates Petro’s campaign for irregularities

The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Colombia decided this Tuesday (8) to “open an investigation and file charges against the campaign” of leftist president Gustavo Petro in 2022 for alleged irregularities, said the body’s president, César Lorduy.

The CNE considers that Petro, as a candidate, his campaign manager, Ricardo Roa, and other members of his team will have to answer “for the alleged violation of the electoral campaign financing regime”, as it is suspected that they exceeded the maximum limits of established expenses and resorted to prohibited sources that they did not declare.

The CNE’s decision is in line with the opinion that requested that charges be brought against President Petro’s campaign for allegedly violating spending limits.

According to the statement read by Lorduy, the Plenary Chamber of the CNE “decided, by majority, to open an investigation and present accusations against the first and second round presidential campaign of the Historic Pact coalition, represented by citizens Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego, candidate; Ricardo Roa Barragán, campaign manager; Lucy Aydee Mogollón Alfonso, treasurer; María Lucy Soto Caro and Juan Carlos Lemus Gómez, auditors”.

This also affects the political movement Colombia Humana, to which Petro belongs, and the left-wing political party União Patriótica.

“In this order, the candidate, campaign director, treasurer and auditors are accused of allegedly violating the spending limit on the first round campaign, in the amount of 3,709,361,342 pesos (about US$878 thousand),” he added the CNE.

Questions about the scope of the measure

The CNE’s decision does not make clear the extent of Petro’s responsibility for the alleged electoral irregularities or whether the accusations are made in his own name or as part of his campaign team.

Minutes after learning of the CNE’s decision, Petro stated on his account on the social network natural is the Accusations Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.

According to the CNE, Petro’s presidential campaign did not report in its reporting to the body about contributions to the first round of elections, held on May 29, 2022, from the Colombian Federation of Educators (Fecode), from the Polo party Democratic Alternative and the Unión Sindical Obrera (USO), nor on expenses with the payment of electoral taxes and propaganda, among others.

Regarding the second round of elections, held on June 19, 2022, Petro’s campaign, according to the CNE, also allegedly violated “the spending limit in the amount of 1,646,386,773 pesos (about US$389,541 today) ”.

This money would have come from donations from the Colombia Humana party and the USO and would have been spent on payments for his election celebration party, electoral inspectors and air transport, among others.

Finally, the CNE declared that it accused the political movement Colombia Humana and the Unión Patriótica for “allegedly allowing the financing of the presidential campaign with prohibited sources”.

These sources were supposedly legal entities, in this case the Fecode and USO unions themselves, as well as the company Ingenial Media SAS.