There are many explanations to this state of affairs. Some say it is ignorance. Others claim that it is fear, or protest, or lack of confidence in the political candidates.
Everybody agrees that one cause is the low quality of registers. The registers used until now have included many who could not possibly vote: people who left the country many years ago, and also many deceased. This of course affects the turnout figure. However, ironically, it has partly been compensated by fraud. Thus, when voting lists are scrutinized, many of the deceased seem to have voted!
In December 2010 the Colombian congress voted in favour of an electoral reform (Law 190) that will significantly reduce the number of eligible voters. Some claim that the reduction is a big as from 30 million to 15 million! This would, in theory, automatically improve turnout.
The reform is brutal. Colombians who have not recently renewed their ID-cards will be excluded from electoral rolls. So will prisoners, and members of the armed forces. These are debatable criteria, and they would be impossible in many democratic countries. Not so in Clombia. But the really interesting criterion for the right to vote is that one voted in the previous elections.
This means that 90% of voters in Bolívar would be excluded from voting in 2011. It also means that the 2010 abstentionists are excluded from voting. The only real opposition party in Colombia is the Polo Democratico Alternativo, PDA. PDA recommended abstention in the 2010 presidential elections - a perfectly legal option, and a democratic right, by which to express discontent. Those who followed the recommendation are now being erased from the electoral rolls.
It seems evident that this article 47 of the law violates the Colombian constitution. The law is not yet effective, as it has to be accepted by the - politically appointed - Constitutional Court. There is still some hope.
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