Colombia's elections will have for the first time trans community observers

For the first time there will be observers from the trans community in a presidential election. The Colombian Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) will carry out an observation with a differential approach focused on trans people and those with disabilities.

This was stated by the director of the EOM, Alejandra Barrios, who stressed that this Sunday, May 29th, when the presidential elections will be held in Colombia, the organization will have 56 trans people who will observe the Trans Voting Protocol. 

This observation group is composed of 2 agender persons, 16 trans men, 18 trans women and 20 non-binary persons; who will carry out observation work in Bogotá and the departments of Antioquia, Atlántico, Bolívar, Caquetá, Huila, La Guajira, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Santander and Tolima. 

It should be noted that the group includes 4 migrant trans persons and 4 foreign trans persons.

In turn, the EOM will carry out an observation exercise aimed at highlighting the different and multiple obstacles faced by the population with disabilities. 

For this purpose, a team of 73 observers with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities will also be deployed, who will also make recommendations to improve the quality of the electoral process, said Barrios.

For today's elections, the Electoral Observation Mission will deploy a total of 3,539 national and international electoral observers in 467 municipalities of the country, corresponding to 80.2 percent of the electoral potential. 

The observation team is made up of 56 percent women - 1,971 - 43 percent men - 1,535 - and 1 percent - 33 - non-binary people.

Of the total observation team, 408 are international and come from 30 countries. 218 will observe in Colombian territory; 164 in Bogota and 54 in 16 municipalities of 14 departments. Likewise, abroad, 190 are present in 46 consulates in 19 countries, 8 of them in Europe, including Turkey, 10 in Latin America and the USA.

This note was made with the support of a group of journalists who cover the first-round elections in Colombia, sponsored by Global Exchange in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.

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