The First Commission of Colombia’s senate approved a project seeking the 2010 re-election of Álvaro Uribe almost unanimously after the opposition walked out.
The Commission was able to approve a change in the formulation of the question of the referendum that allows the President to be re-elected in 2010. It had been formulated wrong previously, which indicated that Uribe would not be able to run for office again until 2014. Senators who approved the project allege that the almost 5 million people who signed the referendum project believed they were signing for Uribe’s re-election on 2010 rather than 2014.
The opposition accused the coalition of abuse of power after it approved the 2010 re-election of Uribe that already had been sunk in a previous vote.
The referendum will now have to be approved by the plenary of the Senate. Then it will have to be reconciled with the lower chamber of congress, which had previously approved the referendum project with its original wording. The president of the lower chamber has stated his unwillingness to facilitate this reconciliation. If these hurdles are overcome the text will reach the Constitutional Court for approval. The Court had previously stated that only one re-election would not contravene the Constitution.
