BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A European Union mission that observed Colombia’s presidential election underscored Tuesday the transparency and efficiency of the country’s vote count process, which President Gustavo Petro has repeatedly questioned after results did not favor his preferred successor.The independent mission deployed about 150 observers for Sunday’s runoff election, whose results show conservative outsider Abelardo de la Espriella leading by 1 percentage point, or nearly 251,000 votes, with all but a fraction of the votes counted. The mission also observed May’s first-round vote.“We have not observed any irregularities,” mission chief Esteban González Pons, said referring to the counting process. “And as far as we have observed, Colombian legislation has been followed.”Petro and his protégé, progressive candidate Iván Cepeda, are challenging the results. Petro also claimed fraud after Cepeda did not win last month’s election outright.
Cepeda on Sunday said his campaign would challenge the results of more than 30,000 voting stations and would not recognize results until a recount is finished. Electoral authorities are expected to complete the recount this week.
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