BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s outgoing President Gustavo Petro on Monday reiterated claims of fraud in the nation’s June election, which his party lost narrowly to conservative leader Abelardo de la Espriella.In an hourlong presentation to journalists, Petro claimed that results from thousands of tally sheets were manipulated by programmers after vote counts were transmitted to the headquarters of Colombia’s national registrar, the agency in charge of organizing the elections.The accusations of fraud have been dismissed by international observers as well as electoral authorities in Colombia, which declared in late June that conservative lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella won the election, defeating Petro ally Ivan Cepeda by 250,000 votes. De la Espriella will begin a four-year term on Friday after he is sworn into office in a joint session of Congress.
Petro, a longtime critic of Colombia’s political establishment, has refused to acknowledge the results of the June presidential election. On Monday, the outgoing president accused electoral authorities of running an “obscure” election manipulated by foreign powers, and said that officials did not provide metadata for tally sheets that were scanned and posted on a public website, where citizens can check the results of every voting center in the country.“We are facing a profound institutional problem,” Petro said. “And it’s the inauguration of an illegitimate president.”
