00:00Colombia. Controversy has emerged ahead of the upcoming inter-party consultations that will define presidential candidates.
00:07Through a legal action, there is an attempt to block the participation of less-wing candidate Iván Cepeda on March 8.
00:14More details in the report by our colleague Hernán Tubar from Bogotá.
00:19The political party, Pacto Histórico, has taken stance against Maníola aiming at limiting the participation of presidential precandidates Iván Cepeda in the upcoming inter-party consultation.
00:33Opposition sectors are he cannot participate into consultations from the same nature.
00:39Analysts claimed that the National Electoral Council was aware of the procedure to legitimize its participation in both processes, including the new one on October 26, 2025, which was disregarded.
00:53On October 26, there was supposed to be a consultation to choose a precandidate who was going to participate in another consultation from the broad front on March 8.
01:04This was clearly communicated to the electoral organization.
01:08That question needed to be registered with the CNE for authorization and to be printed on the ballot.
01:14We submitted the request to the CNE, but they failed to fulfill their duties properly.
01:20They didn't respond on time to ensure the question would be approved by the CNE and included on the ballot.
01:26And what did the CNE do?
01:28They declared the question irrelevant, which has led to all the doubts and issues that are now surfacing.
01:38In this letter sent votes to the National Electoral Council, the Registrar's Office, and the oversight bodies, the Pacto Histórico, request the inclusion of candidate Iván Cepeda on the ballot for this consultation.
01:53It warned there is no legal restriction preventing their candidate from competing again, as the first consultation was held at the request of a party, the Democratic Poll, and now it is being held in a coalition of led-wing parties.
02:07What we are demonstrating and demanding from the CNE and all the authorities involved is that they glorified that the consultation on October 26 was not an inter-party consultation.
02:22It was an internal consultation of a political process, a movement in formation, which conducted its consultation not only to integrate its precandidacy for the definitive consultation on March 8th, to be held within the framework of the broad pact, but also to choose its candidates for various corporations.
02:46The decision rests with the CNE, whose members are largely represented by red-wing parties.
03:00Any eventuality of this kind will be seen as an anti-democratic determination because it will block a candidate's path.
03:09The CNE was created to guarantee the democratic participation of citizens, not to prevent political opportunities.
03:15If it does, there will likely be a citizen censorship, and it will be very purely viewed.
03:21It will reaffirm that they have acted in a partisan and politicized manner during this government, as has been evident in previous decisions.
03:30The CNE and the Council of State have consistently acted against the government.
03:34Actions being taken at a time when, according to polls, candidates Cepeda hold the top spot in boring intention for both the first and the second round of presidential election.
03:49Hernán Darío Tobar Gaitán, Telesur, Bogotá, Colombia.
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