Colombia’s National Civil Registry invalidated millions of signatures submitted by several presidential hopefuls seeking to compete in this year’s elections through independent candidacies backed by citizen endorsements. Among those affected are right-wing candidates Abelardo De la Espriella, Vicky Dávila, and left-wing Claudia López, whose campaigns saw a significant reduction in the levels of support they had publicly announced in recent months.
The technical review of citizen endorsements—an essential requirement to register independent candidacies—revealed massive inconsistencies in the submitted forms. Although the three hopefuls managed to surpass the minimum threshold required by law to remain in the race—635,216—the percentages of invalidated signatures had a strong political impact and reignited debate over transparency and oversight in the collection of signatures in the country.
In addition to these three candidates, the rest of those who used this citizen-endorsement route to put forward their presidential bids were affected to a lesser extent by the same situation, with significant numbers of submitted signatures being annulled.
Colombia invalidates signatures backing Presidential candidates over irregularities
The hardest blow was dealt to the campaign of Abelardo De la Espriella, the leading opposition candidate, according to opinion polls. The attorney had stated that he submitted more than five million signatures to support his presidential bid. However, following the verification process, the National Civil Registry validated fewer than half of those endorsements and rejected more than 60% due to inconsistencies such as incomplete data, records that do not match the voter registry, duplicates, or citizens who do not appear in the National Identification Archive.
According to official information, of the 5,079,000 records submitted by the Colombian attorney and businessman, valid endorsements totaled 1,978,108, meaning that 62% of his endorsements were annulled.
The gap between the figure announced and the number ultimately accepted by the electoral authority generated questions from different political sectors, especially within the ruling party. Although De la Espriella comfortably exceeded the minimum required to formalize his candidacy, the magnitude of the invalidated signatures raised questions about the organization of the collection process and the mechanisms used to guarantee the authenticity of the endorsements.
The National Civil Registry insisted that the cleansing process is part of the ordinary procedure and that invalidation does not necessarily imply fraud, but rather formal errors or technical inconsistencies. Nevertheless, in some cases possible irregularities were flagged and referred to the competent authorities for analysis.
Vicky Davila and Claudia Lopez, close to the limit
The situation was not exclusive to a single campaign. Vicky Dávila and Claudia López also faced high levels of invalidation in their respective signature-based registration processes. In Dávila’s case, more than 500,000 endorsements were annulled, significantly reducing the total initially reported by her team. Even so, she managed to remain above the threshold required to register as a candidate.
Claudia López experienced a similar scenario. Nearly half of the signatures submitted by her committee were discarded following the technical review. Although the former mayor of Bogotá managed to retain the number needed to continue in the race, the margin was smaller than her campaign had expected, as it had presented the collection effort as evidence of solid and organized citizen support.
In both cases, the percentages of invalidated signatures reflect the logistical and operational difficulties involved in coordinating large-scale collection processes across the country. They also demonstrate the level of scrutiny applied by the electoral authority, which reviews each form against official databases to verify identity, document status, and consistency of information.
It is worth recalling that the minimum number of endorsements required by law to validate a presidential candidacy is 635,216 citizen signatures. In this regard, Vicky Dávila obtained 686,768 endorsements and Claudia López, 651,943 valid signatures.
Other hopefuls also affected
In addition to De la Espriella, Dávila, and Claudia López, the annulments affected other candidates from various political trends. This was the case of Carlos Caicedo, candidate of the leftist coalition Citizen Power, who submitted 2,431,425 signatures, but 1,691,823 of them were annulled, equivalent to 69.6% of the endorsements presented.
Something similar happened to the candidacy of Aníbal Gaviria, who also faced a significant rejection rate, with 68.1% of signatures invalidated—1,578,175 of the 2,316,120 submitted—followed by Mauricio Lizcano, who saw 1,114,625 of 1,841,145 signatures annulled (60.5%).
To varying degrees in terms of invalidations, they were followed by candidacies such as those of Leonardo Huerta (50.8%); Carlos Felipe Córdoba (47.9%); Luis Gilberto Murillo (45.3%); Sondra Macollins (43%); Daniel Palacios (41.8%); Juan Daniel Oviedo (33.4%), etc.
An electoral mechanism under pressure
The signature-based endorsement system has traditionally been a gateway for independent candidacies in Colombia. It allows citizens without the backing of political parties to run for the Presidency if they demonstrate a minimum level of popular support. For this election, the required threshold is a figure that compels campaigns to collect a much larger volume in order to offset potential invalidations.
What occurred at this stage of the process has once again placed that mechanism under scrutiny. Some sectors believe that the high levels of invalidation are a sign of disorder within the campaigns and of insufficiently rigorous collection practices. Others argue that the volume of discarded endorsements demonstrates the need to modernize the system, incorporate more secure technological tools, and strengthen civic education on how to properly fill out the forms.
The National Civil Registry, for its part, defended the procedure and stated that the review was carried out under uniform technical criteria for all candidates. According to the entity, the objective is to ensure that signature-based candidacies reflect real and verifiable support, preventing irregularities from affecting the legitimacy of the electoral process.