Colombia's elections generally peaceful
Colombian local elections go through amid accidental death, arrests, power cut
Monday, October 29, 2007
BOGOTA, (Xinhua) -- Colombians on Sunday voted in regional elections which the authorities said were generally peaceful, despite the accidental death of one candidate, the arrest of dozens of people for voting irregularities and a rebel attack on power pylons that left four towns without electricity.
Mateo Lozano, a candidate for councilor in Suesca, a town in the central department of Boyaca, died in an accident caused by brake failure, Gen. Luis Moore, commander of Colombia's highway police told local media.
"We have ruled out a violent attack" as the cause of Lozano's death, said Moore.
"The vehicle was heading for his town and it seems that there were mechanical failures and he crashed into an obstacle in his way," said Moore.
Power supply in four towns close to the Ecuador border were cutoff after bomb attacks on two pylons.
The attack on the two towers, located in the town of Ricaurte, resulted in the power failure in Tumaco, Barbacoa, Pagui and PaguiPayan, Eduardo Zuniga, governor of the Narino department which is near the border, told local media.
He blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country's largest anti-government group, for the attack.
Narino had been considered a high-risk department during Colombia's regional elections because murders and bomb attacks hadoccurred during the election campaign.
"The authorities are redoubling their efforts, and this morning there was some bother with armed men which has not halted the polls," Zuniga said.
Elsewhere, explosions were reported in Currulao, a town in the northern department of Uraba, and shootings in the northwestern department of Angioquia.
Across the nation, 29 people were arrested as they tried to buy votes with money or food, said the country's attorney general in a statement. However, the registry body said 49 people were arrested for electoral irregularities on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, the 142-member Electoral Observers Mission, which consists of both local and international observers, expressed its concerns over possible irregularities, including the mass mobilization of voters for a single candidate and the delivery of pre-filled voting forms in San Onofre in the northern department of Sucre.
Colombian Interior and Justice Minister Carlos Holguin said the security has been guaranteed during the elections and called on all the eligible voters to go to the polling stations together with their children for what he called "an exercise in democratic education."
Some 200,000 soldiers and police have been deployed for the elections to choose governors and councilors in 32 departments and 1,098 mayors.
Officials at the Chapalito military base said that two helicopters are flying over the area to check the state of the pylons and chase the rebels, who had already clashed with government troops in the early hours on Sunday.
Despite these minor accidents, voting across the country was in general peaceful, said the authorities.
