Colombia's lower House backs referendum on allowing Uribe to run for third term as president

[Judi Lynn]

1:16 a.m. Wednesday, September 2, 2009 Text size:
Colombia's lower House backs referendum on allowing Uribe to run for third term as president

The Associated Press
Decrease Increase Colombia's lower House backs referendum on allowing Uribe to run for third term as president.

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/colombia-129100.html

Longer version:

Colombia's lower House Oks re-election bill
3 mins ago

BOGOTA – Colombia's lower House has approved a bill calling for a referendum on whether to change the constitution to allow President Alvaro Uribe to run for a third term.

Lawmakers have voted 85-5 with 76 abstentions in favor of the referendum. The bill, which has already passed the Senate, must now go to Colombia's Constitutional Court.

The referendum would ask voters if Colombia should modify its constitution to allow presidents to run for two consecutive re-elections. The constitution, which was already modified once to let Uribe run for a second four-year term, allows for a single immediate re-election.

Uribe has not yet said publicly if he will run again.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090902/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_colombia_re_election

~~~~~~~~~~

Bloomberg:

Colombia’s Congress Approves Referendum on Uribe Third Term Bid
By Helen Murphy

Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe cleared another hurdle toward running for re-election as the lower house approved a national referendum on changing the constitution to allow presidents to serve three straight terms.

After three days of debate, the chamber voted 85-to-5 to approve holding a referendum, joining the Senate which passed the same bill on Aug. 19. Opponents argued that with another term, Uribe would deepen his imprint on Colombia’s government and compromise its democratic character. The measure now goes to the nine-member constitutional court for its evaluation.

Uribe hasn’t taken a public position on the referendum or said whether he’d run in the 2010 election if the constitutional change is approved. He has repeatedly stressed, though, the importance of maintaining his security policies aimed at defeating drug-funded rebels that have challenged the Colombian government for more than 40 years.

“Momentum is now building and it would be a fool who suggests that Uribe, the man who has done the most for Colombia since Simon Bolivar restored independence in the 1800s, can’t triumph again,” said Rupert Stebbings head of international sales at Interbolsa SA, the nation’s second-biggest brokerage.

More:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aseY9jcAxAAA

[rabs]

1. English-language media misses the boat

What the Lower house voted on was actually the reconciliation of versions of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies on a possible referendum, not the referendum itself. The Senate version called for uribe's possible re-re-election this year, the Chamber in 2014. The two bodies last night agreed on 2010.

In the chamber 84 votes were needed. Note the vote for was 85 for, five against and 76 abstentions. Hardly a sweeping victory for the uribistas. Also, 86 of the deputies are under investigation for accusations that they received "prebendas" (bribes and political favors) for voting in favor of uribe's re-election in 2005.

Scuttlebutt in Bogota today was that many uribista deputies only voted for the measure in order to avoid reprisals from the uribe government in the remaining months of his administration and in the still-unknown event that Uribe will run and win.

Some of the deputies who voted in favor are said to be banking that the Constitutional Court will derail the entire process as unconstitutional. (The same court approved a constitutional change allowing Uribe's re-election five years ago, but it is not guaranteed that it will do it again).

The constitutional court could take up to three months for a decision. Then uribe would have to call the referendum in which 7.3 million Colombians would have to participate. Uribe would have to get 50 percent plus 1 vote to be eligible to run for a third term.

Uribe probably will not announce whether he will run until late January or early February (he can't, not until if and when the referendum is held and whether he wins it). The election for the presidency is May 10, 2010, so a January or February decision by uribe would leave very little time for campaigning.

So once again, that leaves all other potential candidates to the presidency in limbo, including Juan Manuel Santos.

I think the odds still are against alvarito (unless there is some sort of constitutional coup) which explains the rush and secrecy by the uribistas to push through the u.s. base accords.

[romy]

2. Be assured...

...that if Uribe wants to continue as president, he will.
The democratic institutions in Colombia have no chance against this monster. Consider the vote in congress that is more than dubious, and then the majority of judges in the constitutional court have been appointed by Uribe. All branches of government are comprimised. And the electorate is brainwashed/coerced Uribista.
I believe only the corporate powers can tell Uribe to step down, as a facade to save 'democratic' integrity (ie. make a distinction with Chavez).
Sadly, I have no hope of democracy prevailing in Colombia. Demagogy and narco-statesmanship has bulldozed all credibility away.

[rabs]

3. Uribe and his uphill timeline

First, think you are too kind in only describing alvarito as a monster. Psychopathic, amoral, unbalanced, remorseless criminal may be more descriptive.

In case you have not seen it yet, Semana has an analysis of the constitutional and legal hurdles the uribistas must overcome. Semana's conclusion; it is a mission impossible for alvarito, there simply is not enough time before the May 10 elections, and the efforts in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies may have been in vain.

But read the very last, cryptic paragraph of the Semana analysis. It sort of bolsters my observation that there may be a constitutional coup and your observation that if Uribe wants to continue as president, he will.

Es obvio que estas cuentas ya las hizo el gobierno, y por eso no se entiende para qué hizo el esfuerzo oficial de voltear a suficientes Representantes a la Cámara a su favor. Salvo que tenga un Plan B, diferente a la convocatoria a un referendo...

So what is Plan B, that is different from calling a referendum ??

(Spanish)

http://www.semana.com/noticias-politica/esfuerzo-oficial-para-pasar-referendo-habra-sido-vano/128158.aspx

[rabs]

4. English-language article on uribe's possible re-re-election

Except for the cheap shot at Chavez, the Economist article touches on most of the points already made on this thread.


http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14382509