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A referendum vote on seven anti-corruption measures failed to meet quorum in Colombia on Sunday, nullifying the results even though each of the measures, including a reduction in lawmakers' salaries and term limits for public posts, got at least 99 percent support.

BOGOTA: A referendum vote on seven anti-corruption measures failed to meet quorum in Colombia on Sunday, nullifying the results even though each of the measures, including a reduction in lawmakers' salaries and term limits for public posts, got at least 99 percent support.

Corruption has become a hot topic in the country in recent years as security has improved and Colombians have increasingly turned their attention to headline-grabbing cases, including vote-buying, graft to obtain public contracts and the extradition of the country's anti-corruption czar for allegedly taking bribes.

Graft costs the country US$17 billion a year, equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP, the country's comptroller has said.

To be valid each question needed just over 12.1 million votes cast. With nearly 100 percent reporting, just 11.6 million people had voted, under a third of the 36.4 million eligible voters.

Each of the seven questions, including bans on house arrest sentences for corruption, forcing elected officials to publish tax returns and a three-term limit on lawmakers, had more than 99 percent support.

Voters also backed limiting monthly salaries for lawmakers and other high-ranking officials to the equivalent of 25 minimum salaries, or nearly US$6,600. Lawmakers currently earn more than US$10,500 per month, compared with a minimum wage of about US$260.

"Yes" was supported by many leftist and centrist lawmakers. A faux reggaeton video starring politicians backing "Yes" was widely shared on social media this week.

Right-wing President Ivan Duque, who has promised to clamp down on graft with term limits and stiffer sentences, supported the referendum and has called corruption a "cancer."

However, several members of his party, including ex-president and current senator Alvaro Uribe, who is his mentor, said they preferred to support anti-corruption proposals in Congress instead.

Uribe, whose administration was dogged by corruption probes, is under investigation by the Supreme Court for alleged witness tampering and bribery.

Supporters of the vote said it showed Colombians were fed up with scandals and wanted to hold politicians accountable.

"We were five cents short, but this has shaken the traditional political class," Angelica Lozano, a Green party senator who backed "Yes" said on local radio. "Citizens want a real and genuine change."

"Yes" lawmakers will present a suite of laws based on the seven measures this week, the campaign said.

In a televised speech late on Sunday, Duque urged lawmakers to support anti-corruption reforms and citizens to report graft.

"Together we'll defeat those who ransack public resources, together we'll build the future that Colombia deserves," he said.</s>BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — An anti-corruption referendum in Colombia drew millions to the polls Sunday but fell just short of a required participation threshold to push forward measures aimed at improving transparency and stiffening penalties for white-collar criminals.

Nearly 11.7 million Colombians cast ballots overwhelmingly in favor of seven initiatives proposed to stamp out corruption in the upper echelons of power, failing to draw the 12.1 million voters needed to pass the initiatives, according to quick-count results from over 99 percent of polling stations.

Proponents nonetheless hailed the higher-than-expected turnout as a forceful message from citizens: Enact laws now that put an end to special privileges for lawmakers and make public spending more efficient.

“This historic vote, this decisive victory by free citizens, gives a clear and strong mandate to the government and congress,” said Claudia Lopez, a former senator and vice presidential candidate spearheading the referendum.

The referendum included questions like whether to hand down tougher penalties on corrupt officials who now often serve out sentences in multi-million dollar homes; whether term limits should be imposed on lawmakers, and whether the salaries of members of Congress should be reduced by 40 percent.

Colombian law currently sets senators’ salaries at about $124,000 per year, more than what parliamentarians make in countries like Holland, Sweden and France.

Most Colombians agree corruption is a plague that needs to be exterminated, but not everyone agreed that a vote was the best way to do so. The referendum was boycotted by judges over fears it would lead to wage cuts in the judicial branch since a law states salaries for top magistrates should be the same as those of lawmakers.

“We already have lots of anti-corruption laws,” Hermens Lara, a Bogota municipal judge who is director of the Board of Judges and Magistrates of Colombia, said before the vote. “The problem is implementing them.”

Newly elected President Ivan Duque and most of Colombia’s main political parties backed the measure, but did little to promote it or to lure voters to the polls.

Some experts questioned whether the changes would do anything to curb corruption elsewhere, such as within the judiciary or police.

“Some of the proposals have no impact on corruption,” said Marcela Anzola, a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank. Still she said that passage would “give greater legitimacy to anti-corruption initiatives and send a strong message to politicians.”

According to Colombia’s inspector general, corruption in the country is equivalent to 4 percent of gross domestic product each year. One recent study by Transparency International found that 63 percent of companies in Colombia feared losing business if they did not engage in bribery.

That face of corruption in Colombia marks a stark change from the days when cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar was elected to Congress and his rivals in the Cali Cartel helped elect a president. Just a little over a decade ago, scores of congressional members were also charged or investigated for ties to right-wing paramilitary groups.

But today, experts say the biggest threat comes from white-collar criminals.

One example is the expansion of an oil refinery in Cartagena, which ended up costing more than double its projected $3.3 billion price tag due to what authorities described as mismanagement and graft by officials who were in cahoots with contractors.

The referendum would have given Colombia’s Congress a year to pass legislation implementing the proposals or force Duque to do so by decree.

The measures needed approval from 12.1 million voters — or roughly a third of the 36 million registered voters. Turnout in the country’s recent presidential election barely reached 50 percent, while a 2016 referendum on a peace deal with leftist rebels to end a half century of fighting barely drew 13 million votes.

Lopez said she began to push for the referendum after Congress repeatedly rejected anti-corruption bills that her party had proposed.

“Corrupt politicians will never vote to place limits on themselves,” said. “That’s why this referendum is the best tool we have to tackle corruption.”

Lopez and her supporters tried to overcome voter apathy with the help of a famous satirist, recording a campaign video that shows Lopez and a handful of middle-aged congressmen dressed up as reggaeton singers who riff that corruption is the “cancer of Colombia” and must be stopped.

Julian Ramirez, an 18-year-old political science student in Bogota, said he has been campaigning for the anti-corruption referendum since last year, when activists collected 4 million signatures to get officials to fund the vote.

“Fighting corruption should be something we can all unite under,” Ramirez said.</s>BOGOTA: Colombians are voting on seven anti-corruption measures in a referendum on Sunday, including a reduction in lawmakers’ salaries and term limits for public posts, as graft scandals continue to spark outrage.

As security in the country has improved in recent years, Colombians have increasingly turned their attention to headline-grabbing corruption cases, including vote-buying, graft to obtain public contracts and the extradition of the country’s anti-corruption czar for allegedly taking bribes. Corruption costs the country $17 billion a year, equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP, the country’s comptroller has said.

The issue was a hot topic in the June presidential election, as candidates responded to popular outrage with a raft of reform promises. At a polling station in northern Bogota, every voter approached by Reuters said they backed the yes side. It is widely expected that many opposed to the measures will not vote.

“It’s not fair we invest so much in congressional salaries when there’s so many families who don’t earn even two minimum salaries,” said Miriam Huerte, a 54-year-old house cleaner. ‘Yes’ is supported by many leftist and centrist lawmakers. A faux reggaeton video starring politicians encouraging people to vote yes was widely shared on social media this week.

Right-wing President Ivan Duque, who promised during his campaign to clamp down on graft with term limits and stiffer sentences, supports the referendum and has called corruption a “cancer”.

However, several members of his party, including Alvaro Uribe, who is his mentor, an ex-president and current senator, have said they prefer to support anti-corruption proposals in Congress. Uribe, whose administration was dogged by corruption probes, is now under investigation by the Supreme Court for alleged witness tampering and bribery.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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Colombians are voting on seven anti-corruption measures in a referendum on Sunday, including a reduction in lawmakers' salaries and term limits for public posts, as graft scandals continue to spark outrage.

BOGOTA: Colombians are voting on seven anti-corruption measures in a referendum on Sunday, including a reduction in lawmakers' salaries and term limits for public posts, as graft scandals continue to spark outrage.

As security in the country has improved in recent years, Colombians have increasingly turned their attention to headline-grabbing corruption cases, including vote-buying, graft to obtain public contracts and the extradition of the country's anti-corruption czar for allegedly taking bribes.

Corruption costs the country US$17 billion a year, equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP, the country's comptroller has said.

The issue was a hot topic in the June presidential election, as candidates responded to popular outrage with a raft of reform promises.

At a polling station in northern Bogota, every voter approached by Reuters said they backed the yes side. It is widely expected that many opposed to the measures will not vote.

"It's not fair we invest so much in congressional salaries when there's so many families who don't earn even two minimum salaries," said Miriam Huerte, a 54-year-old house cleaner.

'Yes' is supported by many leftist and centrist lawmakers. A faux reggaeton video starring politicians encouraging people to vote yes was widely shared on social media this week.

Right-wing President Ivan Duque, who promised during his campaign to clamp down on graft with term limits and stiffer sentences, supports the referendum and has called corruption a "cancer".

However, several members of his party, including Alvaro Uribe, who is his mentor, an ex-president and current senator, have said they prefer to support anti-corruption proposals in Congress.

Uribe, whose administration was dogged by corruption probes, is now under investigation by the Supreme Court for alleged witness tampering and bribery.

The referendum's top hurdle is likely to be meeting a quorum. To pass, each question must be voted on by at least a third of eligible voters, some 12 million people, and have the support of just over 6 million.

Some 36.4 million Colombians are eligible to vote. Only 19.5 million people voted in the second round of the presidential contest.

The questions that pass are to be incorporated into law by Congress within a year or implemented via presidential decree.

The referendum will ask if monthly salaries for lawmakers and other high-ranking officials should be limited to the equivalent of 25 minimum salaries, or nearly US$6,600. Lawmakers currently earn more than US$10,500 per month, compared with a minimum wage of about US$260.

Other questions include bans on alternative sentences like house arrest for corruption, forcing elected officials to publish their tax returns and a three-term limit on local and national lawmakers.</s>BOGOTA (Reuters) - A referendum vote on seven anti-corruption measures failed to meet quorum in Colombia on Sunday, nullifying the results even though each of the measures, including a reduction in lawmakers’ salaries and term limits for public posts, got at least 99 percent support.

Corruption has become a hot topic in the country in recent years as security has improved and Colombians have increasingly turned their attention to headline-grabbing cases, including vote-buying, graft to obtain public contracts and the extradition of the country’s anti-corruption czar for allegedly taking bribes.

Graft costs the country $17 billion a year, equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP, the country’s comptroller has said.

To be valid each question needed just over 12.1 million votes cast. With 99 percent reporting, just 11.6 million people had voted, under a third of the 36.4 million eligible voters.

Each of the seven questions, including bans on alternative sentences like house arrest for corruption, forcing elected officials to publish their tax returns and a three-term limit on local and national lawmakers, had more than 99 percent support.

The referendum also asked if monthly salaries for lawmakers and other high-ranking officials should be limited to the equivalent of 25 minimum salaries, or nearly $6,600. Lawmakers currently earn more than $10,500 per month, compared with a minimum wage of about $260.

“Yes” was supported by many leftist and centrist lawmakers. A faux reggaeton video starring politicians encouraging people to vote yes was widely shared on social media this week.

Right-wing President Ivan Duque, who promised during his campaign to clamp down on graft with term limits and stiffer sentences, supported the referendum and has called corruption a “cancer.”

However, several members of his party, including Alvaro Uribe, who is his mentor, an ex-president and current senator, said they preferred to support anti-corruption proposals in Congress instead.

Uribe, whose administration was dogged by corruption probes, is now under investigation by the Supreme Court for alleged witness tampering and bribery.

Supporters of the vote said it showed Colombians were fed up with continued scandals and wanted to hold politicians to account.

“We were five cents short, but this has shaken the traditional political class,” Angelica Lozano, a Green party senator who campaigned for “Yes” said on local radio. “Citizens want a real and genuine change in political practices.”

“Yes” lawmakers will present a suite of laws based on the seven measures in Congress this week, the “Yes” campaign said.</s>A referendum that sought to curb rampant corruption in Colombia’s congress failed on a knife’s edge on Sunday after voters failed to turn out.

Of Colombia’s 36.4 million voters, less than 12 million cast votes, leaving the referendum 500 thousand votes short for it to be declared valid.

The citizens who did vote, overwhelmingly approved the seven anti-corruption measures. More than 99 percent of the voters who did turn up approved the measures.

Colombia’s rampant corruption is one of the most common grievances in the South American country, yet it failed to mobilize enough voters to address the problem that is bleeding the national treasury.

According to the country’s Inspector General some 10 percent of the national budget gets lost through corruption every year.

The referendum was promoted by anti-corruption advocates mainly from the center and the left, but met with conservative opposition and countered by major disinformation campaigns.

President Ivan Duque said he supported the referendum, but confusingly also proposed alternative measures.

Duque’s political patron, controversial former President Alvaro Uribe, used Duque’s provisional proposals to successfully promote abstention.

Uribe, a former Medellín Cartel associate and the leader of Duque’s Democratic Center party, led the push to quash voter turnout in what has been heralded as the “dirtiest campaign in history.”

“I do not vote in the Deceitful Referendum,” Uribe tweeted Saturday morning.

Multiple of the former president’s closest aides are in prison on corruption or human rights violation charges, yet he claimed that “I have watched out for the transparency and austerity of state resources throughout my public career.”

Two of Uribe’s former ministers are in prison for bribing Congress in 2004 to amend the constitution that allowed Uribe to run for a second presidential term in 2006.

The former president is set to appear before the Supreme Court next week to respond to witness tampering accusations related to his involvement in the formation of paramilitary death squads in the 1990s.

Unlike in other votes, local governments failed to facilitate a high turn-out. The city of Medellin, for example, historically allows free public transport on voting days, but did not during this voting round.

Inspector General Fernando Carrillo just days before the referendum warned national, department and local governments that they must promote voter participation, despite the push to quash turnout.

Carrillo specifically pointed to the National Registry, but said that it was all governmental bodies jobs “to guarantee that citizens have the necessary information in order to effectively grant their right to freely decide on the different options proposed in the referendum.”

National Registrar Juan Carlos Galindo was also criticized during legislative and presidential elections earlier this year about rampant corruption and failures in the voting processes.

The content of the failed referendum

Colombians were asked to vote on seven different parts which include implementing term limits for members of Congress, increasing transparency within the federal government and slashing politician salaries.

If little more than 12 million voters had turned out to polls and more than half of them approved the measures, Congress would have been legally bound to convert each proposal into law.
• None All elected officials must make their assets public
• None All elected officials must make their voting record public
• None All levels of government must make their budgets public
• None Those convicted of corruption must go to prison without parole options
• None The State must nullify all contracts with individuals or companies convicted of corruption
• None Reduce congressmen’s salary from 40 to 25 times the country’s minimum wage

But as polls opened at 8AM on Sunday and votes began rolling in, it soon became clear that the referendum would be yet another anti-corruption effort would fall flat.

Over the past four years, advocates have tried eight times to get an anti-corruption vote on the table, but have failed each time.

Colombia, the country that voted against a peace process, fails to vote against corruption was last modified: by</s>An anti-corruption referendum in Colombia failed to pass on Sunday after narrowly falling short of a required one-third quorum.

Nearly 11.7 million of nearly 36 million registered voters turned out to vote on seven measures designed to battle corruption and improve transparency. A threshold of 12.1 million voters was needed to make it binding.

Read more: Colombia's peace deal: Where is the peace?

However, of those that cast a vote nearly 99 percent supported the proposals, sending a clear message to political elites that the public wants corruption to be taken seriously.

"We were five cents short, but this has shaken the traditional political class," Angelica Lozano, a Green party senator who backed the measure told local radio. "Citizens want a real and genuine change in political practices."

Had the referendum passed, the measures would have slashed lawmakers' salaries, imposed a three-term limit and forced elected officials to publish their tax returns.

Other provisions would have applied stricter sentences for corruption offenses and banned alternative sentences like house arrest for graft. The proposal would have also targeted graft in the private sector by banning companies convicted of corruption from securing contracts from the public sector.

The new president, Ivan Duque, had supported the referendum although some in his conservative party were against it.

In a televised speech, Duque called for lawmakers to support anti-corruption reforms.

"Together we'll defeat those who ransack public resources, together we'll build the future that Colombia deserves," he

 said, urging citizens to also report corruption.

Senator and Green Alliance leader Claudia Lopez, who led the push for the referendum, urged the government to take action.

"This historic vote, this decisive victory by free citizens, gives a clear and strong mandate to the government and congress," she said.

Turnout in Colombian elections are usually low. Voter turn out in the last election was 50 percent and a 2016 referendum to end a half-century war with FARC rebels only drew 13 million voters.

Corruption among politicians, officials and business is rampant yet implementation of existing laws is weak.

Colombia's inspector general has estimated the cost corruption at around 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product each year.

Transparency International has found that nearly two-thirds of companies worry about losing business if they do not pay bribes.</s>Colombia has failed to approve a set of rules, which would toughen penalties for corrupt officials, after a referendum on the anti-graft measures fell short of a required participation threshold.

Nearly 11.7 million Colombians voted on Sunday in favor of 7 proposed anti-corruption measures against the upper layers of power.

The plebiscite, however, failed with just 470,000 votes short of the 12.1 million votes needed for approval.

“Ninety-nine percent of those of us who voted support the initiatives,” newly-elected President Ivan Duque said in an address to the nation.

Green Party Senator Angelica Lozano, who supported the measures, also said, “We were five cents short, but change is unstoppable and here there was a shaking of the traditional political class.”

The measures included seven proposals, from cutting high-ranking officials’ salaries to imposing term limits and eliminating house arrest as a punishment.

Under the current rules, the officials found guilty of graft often serve their sentences in the form of house arrest in their multi-million-dollar homes.

While mostly aimed at cracking down on abuses by public officials, the initiative would have also made private contracts with the state more transparent, and banned companies convicted of corrupt practices from dealing with the public sector.

Judges had banned the vote, claiming there were already enough laws to eliminate corruption.

"We already have lots of anti-corruption laws,” Hermens Lara, a Bogota municipal judge who is director of the Board of Judges and Magistrates of Colombia, had said before the vote. “The problem is implementing them.”

Institutional corruption is rife in Colombia, weakening the public trust in government.

One university study found that, from 1991 to 2011, corruption cost Colombia 4 percent of its GDP.</s>BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombians are voting Sunday in a first-of-a-kind referendum that aims to curb corruption in a country where white-collar criminals are fast replacing drug gangs and paramilitary groups in penetrating the upper echelons of power.

The referendum seeks to slash the salaries of Colombia's Congress members and to bring laws that make public spending more efficient and transparent.

But while most Colombians agree that corruption is a plague that needs to be exterminated, some believe putting it to a vote is not the best way to do so.

The referendum has been boycotted by Colombia's judges over fears it will lead to wage cuts in the judicial branch since a law states that salaries for top magistrates should be the same as those of Congress members.

"We already have lots of anti-corruption laws," said Hermens Lara, a Bogota municipal judge who is director of the Board of Judges and Magistrates of Colombia. "The problem is implementing them."

Newly elected President Ivan Duque and most of Colombia's main political parties say they back the measure, but they have done little to promote it or to lure voters to the polls.

Voters on Sunday will be asked seven questions that include whether to hand down tougher penalties on corrupt officials who now often serve out sentences in multi-million dollar homes; whether term limits should be imposed on lawmakers, and whether the salaries of members of Congress should be reduced by 40 percent.

Colombian law currently sets senators' salaries at about $124,000 per year, more than what parliamentarians make in countries like Holland, Sweden and France.

The measures focus on Congress and some experts question whether the changes would do anything to curb corruption elsewhere, such as within the judiciary or police.

"Some of the proposals have no impact on corruption," says Marcela Anzola, a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank. Still she said that passage would "give greater legitimacy to anti-corruption initiatives and send a strong message to politicians."

According to Colombia's inspector general, corruption in the country is equivalent to 4 percent of gross domestic product each year. One recent study by Transparency International found that 63 percent of companies in Colombia feared losing business if they did not engage in bribery.

That face of corruption in Colombia marks a stark change from the days when cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar was elected to Congress and his rivals in the Cali Cartel helped elect a president. Just a little over a decade ago, scores of congressional members were also charged or investigated for ties to right-wing paramilitary groups.

But today, experts say the biggest threat comes from white-collar criminals.

One example is the expansion of an oil refinery in Cartagena, which ended up costing more than double its projected $3.3 billion price tag due to what authorities described as mismanagement and graft by officials who were in cahoots with contractors.

The referendum would give Colombia's Congress a year to pass legislation implementing the proposals or force Duque to do so by decree.

Getting the minimum number of votes to make the results binding, however, is a tall order.

The measures need approval from 12 million voters — or roughly a third of the 36 million registered voters. Turnout in the country's recent presidential election barely reached 50 percent, while a 2016 referendum on a peace deal with leftist rebels to end a half century of fighting barely drew 13 million votes.

Campaigning for the referendum has been spearheaded by Claudia Lopez, a former senator and vice presidential candidate for the center-left Green Party.

Lopez said she began to push for the referendum after Congress repeatedly rejected anti-corruption bills that her party had proposed.

"Corrupt politicians will never vote to place limits on themselves," Lopez told The Associated Press. "That's why this referendum is the best tool we have to tackle corruption."

Lopez and her supporters have tried to overcome voter apathy with the help of a famous satirist, recording a campaign video that shows Lopez and a handful of middle-aged congressmen dressed up as reggaeton singers who riff that corruption is the "cancer of Colombia" and must be stopped.

Julian Ramirez, an 18-year-old political science student in Bogota, said he has been campaigning for the anti-corruption referendum since last year, when activists collected 4 million signatures to get officials to fund the vote.

"Fighting corruption should be something we can all unite under," Ramirez said as he walked around a central Bogota neighborhood handing out flyers.
Colombia holds its first referendum since amending its constitution in 1991 and fails to pass anti-corruption measures due to low voter turnout.