The National Electoral Council of Colombia announced this Tuesday the opening of an investigation and the presentation of accusations against the country’s president, Gustavo Petro. This affair is due to the financing of the campaign which brought him to the presidency in the framework of an investigation which Petro described as the start of a “coup d’état”.
“The coup has begun,” Petro said on the social network a few minutes after the publication of the note sent by the National Electoral Council. Thus is taking shape a process that has been talked about for weeks and which would call into question the financing of his campaign two years ago, during which he won against the conservative Rodolfo Hernández.
“The plenary assembly of the Council decided today, October 8, by majority to open an investigation and file a complaint against the presidential campaign of the first and second rounds of the Historic Pact coalition,” begins the note published this Tuesday .
Specifically, they highlight Gustavo Petro, Ricardo Roa, campaign manager, Lucy Mogollón, treasurer, as well as the auditors. They are accused of “alleged violation of the electoral campaign financing regime”. They estimate the alleged violation at more than 3.7 billion pesos (around 3 million euros). They are accused of having omitted information on contributions from different parties and unions, as well as “payments to election witnesses” or election propaganda expenses.
This is not the first time that Petro has denounced a coup. In May, he spoke of a “soft coup” when we learned that this investigation was beginning. “If the Constitution says that the President of the Republic cannot be judged by any entity other than the Commission of Indictments (of the House) (…) Why did two entities belonging to an administrative entity declare that they filed a complaint against the president? It is deeply unconstitutional and it is the beginning of a coup d’état in Colombia,” he declared at the time.
The case against Petro’s presidential campaign began in February 2023 when the CNE decided to open a preliminary investigation into allegations of irregularities in its financing, based on an “anonymous complaint”. The organization then explained that the complaint had been filed for “alleged irregularities in the financing and presentation of income and expenditure reports for the electoral campaign of the first and second presidential rounds” of the Historic Pact, the left-wing coalition that brought Petro to the presidency in 2022.
The CNE’s decision angered Petro who, in a speech in Cartagena de Indias, called for a popular uprising in his defense, because he believes that the “constitutional order” has been broken. “Millions of Colombians must take to the streets, I invite you, I ask you, whatever happens to me, to peacefully surround the centers of power in Colombia until constitutional order is restored in this country,” declared the Colombian president. SO.
