The Head of the EU EOM, Javi López, accompanied by the Head of the European Parliament Delegation, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, presented today the Mission's Preliminary Statement after observing Colombia's legislative and inter-party elections for more than six weeks.

"The election day was peaceful, the polling stations had enough jurors, mostly young people, and the voting and counting procedures were carried out in a transparent and efficient manner," said Javi López, who also stressed that the electoral organization demonstrated "a high level of professionalism in facing numerous logistical, pedagogical and security challenges during the electoral process."

The head of the Mission particularly valued the establishment of the 16 peace Congress seats as a positive and innovative mechanism derived from the peace process to strengthen the political representation of the victims of the armed conflict. However, he regretted that this system showed flaws in its design and execution.

"The implementation of the CITREPs is positive," added Izaskun Bilbao, head of the European Parliament Delegation, "but it had problems of security, financing, and infiltration by political parties and armed groups that make it difficult to achieve the objectives for which they were conceived". On the issue of gender equality, Izaskun Bilbao welcomed the fact that "the number of women members of Congress has risen from 20% in the outgoing Congress to 29% in the one elected on Sunday".

The first EU EOM experts arrived in Colombia on 25 January to observe the elections, from last Sunday's legislative and inter-party elections to the presidential elections in their first and eventual second round, in a process that could last six months. The Mission, which was invited by the Electoral Organisation, has 34 long-term observers, who will be in the country until the elections are over, and a hundred experts and short-term observers distributed on an ad hoc basis. Last Sunday alone, the EU EOM deployed more than 140 observers in 29 departments of Colombia to follow the voting day.

EU EOM Colombia Preliminary Statemente: Legislative an Inter-party Elections