Colombia’s Electoral Court Sanctions Petro’s 2022 Campaign Over Irregular Financing
Colombia’s National Electoral Council has delivered one of its most sensitive rulings in years, formally punishing the 2022 “Petro Presidente” campaign for breaking the country’s election financing rules.
The court concluded that the winning campaign exceeded legal spending limits and used money from prohibited sources in both the first and second rounds of the presidential race.
After months of deadlock, the full chamber reached a 6–3 majority in a session that lasted less than an hour. The two investigating magistrates, Benjamín Ortiz and Álvaro Hernán Prada, were joined by magistrates Maritza Martínez, Altus Baquero and Alfonso Campos, plus an external substitute judge, Majer Nayi Abushihab.
Another substitute, Iván Acuña, voted against. Two magistrates stepped aside: Alba Lucía Velásquez, for having served as a campaign witness for Petro’s coalition, and Álvaro Echeverry, for having worked for the campaign.
According to the ruling, the campaign exceeded legal spending caps by more than 3.5 billion pesos, while the total amount of irregular or unreported income and expenses tops 5.3 billion pesos.
The fines add up to about 5.922 billion pesos, roughly the equivalent of around 1.5 million dollars at current exchange rates.
Sanctions Hit Petro Allies as Probe Deepens
The sanctions fall on campaign manager Ricardo Roa, now chief executive of state oil giant Ecopetrol, as well as treasurer Lucy Aidee Mogollón and auditor Mary Lucy Soto. The parties Colombia Humana and Unión Patriótica, which backed Petro, must also pay.
The court says the campaign failed to report major contributions and services, including support from the teachers’ federation Fecode, the oil workers’ union USO, electoral witnesses, events, propaganda and charter flights.
Because the president enjoys special constitutional protection, he was not personally sanctioned. Instead, the court will send the full case file to the Attorney General’s Office and to the Investigation and Accusation Committee in the lower house of Congress, where an earlier case on the same campaign is already open.
For Colombia’s institutions, the ruling is a stress test. It signals that even a victorious campaign can be punished for financial abuse, and it puts pressure on unions, parties and state companies to respect the rules next time voters go to the polls.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief