Bogota, October 26 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Polls opened in Colombian local elections on Sunday with nearly 33 million people eligible to vote.

According to Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo, four people were detained in Colombia for alleged vote fixing.  Two people were detained in Santa Marta on the northern coast with 50 million pesos (some US $17,000), while police arrested another in the north with 40 million pesos (US $13,000), and a further suspect in Rio de Oro in the northeast transporting 25 million pesos (US$8,500).
  The minister said that authorities believed that the money, all in cash, was destined to buy votes.

The day before the regional and local elections, officials said that 50 candidates had been arrested for committing electoral crimes.

At the same time, prosecutors put forward 916 investigations for electoral crimes: including vote buying, pressuring with social programs, and hiding and retaining cedulas.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos voted in local elections Sunday, saying he hopes Colombia will never again have to vote amid violence.
  “I hope that we vote in peace and that this is the last election, after 50 years, that we go to the ballot boxes in the midst of an armed conflict,” said Santos as he cast his vote in downtown Bogota.

The Colombian president added that there were 70 international electoral observers around the country to guarantee the transparency of the elections.

Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said that the day had begun quietly, and that elections had seen the greatest reduction in violence in recent years.  Violent actions against candidates, campaigns and votes during Sunday’s elections had fallen by 75 percent compared to the 2011 elections.