The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, denounced an alleged electoral fraud in the first round of the presidential elections through deliberate manipulation of the voter registry and the preliminary counting system. Petro stated that he verified evidence to support his claim, and expressed his willingness to hand it over to competent authorities.
The Colombian president stated that his decision not to recognize the preliminary count issued by a private entity is based on finding compelling evidence, emphasizing that his commitment to the people and his life struggles have motivated him to risk everything by publicly disclosing these irregularities.
Presento las bases comprobadas del posible fraude. Que puedo entregar a autoridad competente.
Dije que no reconocí los datos del preconteo del software de los hermanos Bautista es porque tengo datos.
Mi compromiso con mi pueblo y el amor a mi país por el que he luchado toda mi…
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 2, 2026
Petro alleged that the registrar refused to deliver the source code, which was a basic requirement to ensuring electoral transparency.
He added that a ruling by the Council of State in 2018 declared the software vulnerable both from within and from outside the system, exposing a lack of institutional control over modifications and directly refuting the registrar’s who claim that tampering was impossible in the days before the election, even though legal regulations required the system to remain unchanged.
According to data provided by the president, the voting software was modified twice on May 26, 2026. The first instance occurred at 1:21:35 PM, and the second at 7:21:13 PM. The election took place on Sunday, June 2.
The alterations consisted of changes in the electoral roll, and the number of polling stations and tables in the Electoral Political Division (DIVIPOL). The official roll was changed from 41,421,973 to 42,307,373 in the preliminary count system, introducing a difference of 885,409 new IDs that were not initially registered by the registration deadline.
Additionally, the polling stations increased from 13,742 official ones to 14,438 in the DIVIPOL of the private software, reflecting a difference of 696 additional stations.
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As for the voting tables, the official figure was 120,527, but 122,020 were recorded in the private preliminary counting system, counting an additional 1,493 tables.
Petro further added that within the voting process, 5,300 polling stations appear with more than 300 votes in a day, some exceeding the maximum limit of voters per day by recording up to 700 votes. These are stations where the far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella has the direct advantage of 635,000 votes against the left’s Iván Cepeda.
(Telesur)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SH
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