BOGOTA – Colombian lawmakers passed a Bill on Tuesday aimed at allowing President Alvaro Uribe to seek a third consecutive term if the conservative US ally chooses to run for re-election next May.
Mr Uribe, popular for his US-backed campaign against leftist rebels, has been evasive about whether he wants to run and he still faces hurdles to a possible re-election bid. But he has high approval ratings and his allies drove the Bill through the legislature despite opposition fears another term for Mr Uribe would undermine Colombia’s democracy.
Mr Uribe’s supporters say he is the only leader who can tackle the Farc guerrillas who once roamed the countryside kidnapping and bombing almost at will until he sent troops to reclaim swaths of the country under control of armed groups.
After a vote of 85 in favour of the proposal to five opposed, lawmakers applauded and hugged each other on the legislature floor. The Bill calls for a referendum on amending the constitution to allow re-election and must still go before Colombia’s constitutional court.
“The congress has fulfilled its duty,” pro-Uribe lawmaker Santiago Castro said. “It’s up to the Colombian people now to define the fate of the re-election at the polls.” Investors praise Mr Uribe’s economic and security policies but are split over the risks a third term would entail for democratic institutions in Colombia, the world’s number three coffee exporter and a major South American oil producer.
Mr Uribe’s backers say a vote could be held earlier next year, but time is short as the court review could take three months, with two more months to organize the referendum. Should he seek re-election, Mr Uribe would follow his leftist Andean neighbours, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, who have both faced criticism for amending their constitutions to stay longer in office.
“What is in play here are the rules of the game of democracy,” said opposition lawmaker River Franklin Legro during a day of debate before the vote.
First elected in 2002, Mr Uribe was a political outsider who came to power promising to smash Latin America’s oldest left-wing guerrilla group and take on drug traffickers who have made Colombia the world’s top cocaine producer.
Aided by billions of dollars in US funds, Mr Uribe sent troops to drive the Farc back into the jungles and remote mountains, killing or capturing top commanders and thinning their ranks with desertions. The popularity of his security and pro-investment policies allowed Mr Uribe to change the constitution once before for his 2006 re-election and opinion polls show most Colombians would back him for a third term if he ran. – (Reuters)