Controversy in the country given that in the middle of the presentation of the 2025 national budget project presented to Congress, A reduction of 77% in the budget allocated to the Registry is proposed.
In , Hernán Cadavid, representative to the House for the Democratic Center, stated his position in the midst of this new political storm for this approach of the Petro Government, to the budget of the Registry.
According to Cadavid, what they are doing with the Registry is nothing more than a “a textbook move for regimes.”
“What authoritarian regimes in Latin America have shown is that one of the first institutions they weaken and then appropriate are the electoral systems of each country. “That is a textbook move for each of these characters who have this authoritarian conception; either they are with them, or they are against them,” Cadavid said.
“Obviously, today we are not the CNE or the Registry of Venezuela, but if we neglect the details, things have a beginning and that beginning is weakening; first, financially; second, the scope of their powers, as you are already seeing proposed in this political reform. Third, it will surely be the discrediting of each one of the members of the CNE, as we have already seen the President of the Republic do. Then, the discrediting of the national registrar will come. We have no doubt about it. That is, the answer is: yes, there is a risk, and that is why we have to put our foot down, regardless of political party, thought, militancy, to defend electoral institutions in Colombia.“, added the congressman in
It is worth noting that the national registrar, Hernán Penagos, spoke this Tuesday, September 24, at the UN General Assembly, which President Gustavo Petro also attended.
“In relation to the risks in electoral processes, one of the main risks in Latin America is related to the budgetary autonomy of electoral authorities. Today, some of this autonomy has been lost, mainly due to one factor: the budget. “Most electoral bodies derive their budgets from demands or requests to the government, which – in some way – compromises their work as arbiters of democracy,” he said.
