Colombia’s House of Representatives suspended the vote on the
referendum on the re-election of President Alvaro Uribe late Tuesday
after more than half of the lawmakers declared themselves impeded to
vote because of a pending preliminary investigation against them by the
Supreme Court.
The surprising massive move of coalition Representatives to declare themselves impeded to vote made the actual vote on the referendum impossible as every impediment needed to be voted on first.
Representatives who had the opportunity to speak declared they were impeded to vote by the pending preliminary investigation by the country’s Supreme Court into their allegedly illegal approval of a preceding referendum.
The same coalition Representatives then, one by one, denied the impediments of their colleagues, making them able to vote.
The session was adjourned just before midnight after ten of the impediments were resolved.
The House will debate again on Wednesday at 3PM to vote on the remaining 80 impediments before proceeding to vote on the referendum. The bill allowing the referendum will need the approval of a majority of at least 84 Representatives.
The referendum is to ask the Colombian people if a president is allowed
to seek a third consecutive term. This is currently not allowed by the
constitution.
