Bogota, September 8 (RHC)-- Colombians residing in 64 countries are set to vote in the October 2 referendum in order to decide on whether to approve the peace deal reached between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP).
The head of the National Civil Registry, Juan Carlos Galindo, whose office is the governmental body charged with identifying voters and collecting vital statistics, said the electoral census shows 34.8 million Colombians are registered to vote, with 599,026 residing outside the country.
Galindo said that the Oct. 2 date for the vote, just less than a month away, made it impossible to "undertake a registration phase for the public," given that such a procedure takes at least "90 days." Thus, "all those citizens who have been in previous censuses will be able to vote. That is, who have voted in the earlier elections, whether that be in 2015, 2014, 2011, 2010, 2007 or farther back."
Galindo also said that Colombian voters will have to vote at the precincts where they are — or were most recently — registered, since there is not enough time to update the rolls.