Colombia Reports
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Candidates: Colombia fails to promote Andean Parliament elections
Colombians who are running for the Andean Parliament have complained of the lack of advertising or information given to the public about the institution's upcoming elections, reports news agency EFE.
Thirty candidates gave a statement at a meeting held in Bogota on Wednesday, expressing concern about the lack of promotion or advertising that the Colombian authorities have carried out for the Andean Parliament elections, scheduled for March 14.
The candidates warned that this lack of public information about the elections was highly undemocratic. The parliament's general secretary Ruben Velez agreed with this, commenting that "a low vote concerns any institution, because it does not give sufficient strength and legitimacy."
Colombia's Ombudsman admitted that his country had failed to properly diseminate information about the elections, or about the Andean Parliament in general.
The Andean Parliament is the legislative branch of the Andean Community, a trading bloc composed of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia. Venezuela was a member until 2006. The parliament was set up in 1979, and is composed of twenty representatives, four from each member state.
