Colombian local
elections go through
amid accidental death,
arrests, power cut
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.
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