OAS highlights incident-free election day in Colombia with no formal complaints

Colombia's presidential runoff election proceeded smoothly, with no significant public order disturbances reported, according to the Organization of American States (OAS) election observation mission. The mission, deployed across 26 of the country's 32 departments and in international cities, found that the electoral process was not jeopardized.

Leonel Fernández, the former president of the Dominican Republic and chief of the OAS mission, stated that observers have witnessed free participation from the Colombian people. "We have not had any information about public order disturbances or anything that jeopardizes this electoral event up to this moment," Fernández told reporters.

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What we have observed so far is free participation by the Colombian people. There has been no information about public order disturbances or anything that jeopardizes this electoral event up to this moment.

Fernández also noted that no formal complaints have been filed regarding irregularities. The mission consists of 96 observers and political specialists from 24 different nationalities. They are monitoring the election in cities both within Colombia and abroad, including Madrid, New York, and Miami.

This assessment comes despite an earlier report by Interior Minister Armando Benedetti regarding allegedly marked ballots found in 14 departments. Benedetti had urged electoral authorities to verify the situation to ensure transparency. For this election, 41.4 million Colombians were eligible to vote at 118,346 polling stations nationwide.

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Formally, no complaints have been filed.