For almost the majority of people living in Medellín, it is almost certain that the elections will point to a candidate who competes practically alone.
All, or partly, because the current mayor turned out to be a first-class schemer, a street urchin who defrauded the voters and who has made the most appalling management of which we are aware. Although it is unlikely that the present mayor’s current lying and corrupt project will succeed, even when his workers already have their pockets full and their bellies torn, in this case, it is fair to ask if the cure is better than the disease. Is . Given the choice between Quintero’s AIDS and the next mayor’s hepatitis B, we’re going to the scaffold anyway.
Everywhere, resignation is spreading for what will happen to us and there are many who speculate that it is possible that the associates of big businessmen, even if they themselves are illegal, who spent thousands of pesos on publicity for themselves and then There is an opinion in the major media that the man who shared a residence building with the city’s big gangsters while chasing petty thieves through it, and who ruled with an associate from the “Envigado Office”, became mayor of the city. . Yes, the same clingy and sticky “habalao” who roamed the streets greeting dogs and cats will once again dictate our destiny.
The next mayor is going to manage over 8 billion pesos annually and with them, he is going to build a career for the presidency, taking advantage of his quarter hours in the mayor’s office to campaign, oil major media outlets and Start campaign for the presidency after two years. With the projected winner of the mayor’s office we will elect not a mayor, but a presidential candidate who will use his power to become the presidential candidate. Fighting and confrontation with the President will be the order of the day and at the end of the first two years, the city will be in worse shape and it is possible that, by pure abandonment, it will compete to become the President’s replacement. Current ruler.
It’s more similar. One invents a fight with the town’s whites and the other serves them as a humble servant; One works for his family and friends and the other works for him and his friends. Both represent the worst of the country’s conduct: Avito, the vivacious man who lives by folly, deception and enrichment at all costs. They are the worst of us.
Both candidates come from the old political class that has plunged the country into despair. He is a friend of former President Gaviria and all the corrupt people there: Suárez Meira, Trujillo and Julián Bedoya, to name a few, in the most wanted cartels; The other embraced the four, Sarmiento Angulo and Vicky Davila. They’re the same shit in a different container or as my mom used to say, the same dog with a different joke. Of course, in some ways they are very similar. Both ruled silently and agreed with the wicked and both left us in their hands. (See: Christopher Blattman, Gustavo Duncan, Juan Pablo Mesa, “Criminal Government in Medellín”).
Does the above mean that Quintero’s pervert should be replaced by another equivalent or even worse? not good. However, this time we are also making mess, the difference is that water is closer. The 1991 Constitution, in its Article 258, established that voting is a right and a duty of the citizen and in its first paragraph, it established the BLANK VOTE as follows:
“The vote for the first round of election of members of a public corporation, governor, mayor or president shall be repeated only once when the blank votes constitute an absolute majority in respect of the valid votes. In case of single-person election, the same candidates cannot present themselves…”
Blank voting is a civic practice that demonstrates the duty to vote and embodies the right to choose or not to choose for the first time. As stated in the paragraph, if the absolute majority of those voting void them, the election shall be repeated, but with other candidates. In the last elections, the spontaneous blank vote, because no one did the work to promote it, exceeded 80 thousand. According to a recent poll, the white vote ranks third in opinion and is within the margin of error of the second candidate. The total of blank votes from the last election, as well as null votes and those not marked, is more than 120,000. Doesn’t Medellin deserve excellent candidates who can choose a better mayor from among them???
It should be clarified that the blank vote does not add up to any candidate, that half of the valid votes cast plus one is the requirement defined by the paragraph of the constitutional article, that it is not half of the voter list plus one but one of the valid votes. is the votes polled in the respective election. The consequence of having a majority of empty votes is that candidates must step aside and allow others to come. For those who are skeptical and say it is impossible to defeat a candidate based on surveys and information manipulation, we need to tell them that even if the white man does not win, the new president will know that there is a large portion of the population. has already informed him that he cannot do what he wants. Whom he chose and his election did not receive citizen support as rigged surveys showed.
We are and are capable of making political history in this country. Everything has not been decided, we are not in danger of repeating the mistake, we can change things by casting a blank vote. The blank vote is useful… and necessary. A great civic movement must rally around the white vote, regardless of political or religious creed, regardless of what social class the citizens belong to. Medellin deserves more.
Medellin. 20 September 2023