A group of 10 accountants analyzes the financial statements presented by the recall committee. It is expected that before the end of the month they will deliver the report to the plenary room.
After the endorsement that the Registrar’s Office ratified 132,908 signatures for the revocation of Mayor Daniel Quintero, of the 91,211 necessary, the process is waiting for the National Electoral Council (CNE) to certify the report with the financial statements presented by the promoting committee and that It contains the detail of the expenses they made to collect the signatures.
Although no time limit is established for this step, a group of more than 10 accountants from the Political Financing Fund, attached to the CNE, is making progress in reviewing the accounting report and expects to deliver its conclusions next week. Although it is not a certainty that this will be the case, since the work includes a look with a magnifying glass at more than 1,700 pages that was delivered by the recall committee with the details of each peso invested.
CNE sources reported that this task is a priority, which is why they are working on it “at full speed.” So far, confirmed Andrés Rodríguez, spokesman for the revocation, the CNE has made four observations about which they require details to advance in the final consolidation of the report. And the committee works to respond soon.
However, EL COLOMBIANO learned that new observations are expected from the entity and that there are some petition rights sent by different people, related to the process that are waiting to respond. The parties declined to provide details on any of the issues.
When all the details are given, The Fund will deliver the report to the Plenary Chamber of the CNE, in which nine magistrates will make the decision to certify or not the financial statements. This will determine the future of the revocation.
Can you bring down the process?
Former magistrate Guillermo Mejía explained that the presentation of the accounting report made by the committee is a legal requirement that establishes limits on the expenses that can be made to collect the supporting signatures. By 2021, it was established that this process could not exceed $ 236 million, as well as that a person (natural or legal) could not contribute more than 10% of that total amount.
“If the rendering of accounts for the collection of signatures is not approved by the CNE, it cannot be certified that the campaign was done well and the revocation would fail,” said the former magistrate. In this sense, the revocation committee assured that they feel calm because they presented a complete accounting statement, with details of the donations in money and in kind, and that they were always kept below the allowed limits.
In case this step is carried out in a favorable way to the revocation, there is another rendering of accounts that must be presented: the money that both the recall committee and the mayor invest in the campaign, carried out from the moment the voting date is set until the day they are completed, there are also limits.
While the recall committee will promote attendance at the polls to achieve the threshold of 314,720 people who must vote, A committee for the defense of the mayor may also be formed to invite a vote no to revocation or abstention. Either way, if this requirement is met, 157,361 or more citizens must vote yes for the mayor to be revoked.
In this case, all the resources of the defense campaign must come from the pocket of the president or from donations from individuals, always under the allowed limits. The officials of the Mayor’s Office may express their support for Quintero by disclosing the achievements obtained during his tenure and responding to the proposals he made when he was a candidate. In no way, clarified the ex-magistrate Mejía, they will be able to give speeches in public square and neither will be able to participate in these campaigns the public servants of other entities such as the Government, the Personería, the Attorney General’s Office, etc.
On this issue, the political analyst Fredy Chaverra indicated that, many times, the speed that the CNE gives to the delivery of the report on the financial statements is linked to political interests, while the magistrates belong to parties that may be against or in favor of the process: “There are incidents of a political nature that determine whether or not the councilors (magistrates) put the accelerator on the process. It would be necessary to review well who are the political leaders of each one ”.
In any case, once the CNE certifies that the accounts are in order, the Registrar’s Office will notify the Executive and it will have 8 days from that moment to convene the democratic day, whose term may not exceed two months.
key dates of the recall process
.