Colombia’s Congress has voted to bar presidents from seeking re-election, a move backed by President Juan Manuel Santos that undoes a law passed by his predecessor and rival Alvaro Uribe. The decision also marks a difference with the ongoing Latin American trend of successive re-elections, when not unlimited.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos opened a new session of Congress on Sunday, calling on lawmakers to back government efforts to strike a peace deal with the FARC rebels to end 50 years of war. Members of Congress were sworn in during the ceremony in central Bogota.
Colombians pick a new president on Sunday in a tight runoff election, kind of referendum, fought over whether peace talks with Marxist inspired and drugs financed guerrillas, or a renewed military offensive stand the best chance of ending 50 years of war in the country rich in resources and with one of the more stable economies in the region.
Right-wing opposition candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga won most votes in Colombia's presidential election on Sunday but fell short of a first-round victory and will face President Juan Manuel Santos in a close runoff on 15 June.
Accusations of bribes from drug traffickers, spying and email hacking have turned Colombia’s presidential election into an ugly slugfest that has further polarized a country trying to emerge from its violent past.
Colombia's government and FARC rebels announced on Friday an agreement to jointly combat illicit drug trade in the country as part of a six-point peace plan. The deal comes ahead of May 25 elections in the country and is an implicit admission of the guerrillas' links with the drug trade.
Colombian voters showed tepid support for peace talks with FARC guerrillas on Sunday by giving the country's president Juan Manuel Santos a majority in Congress, but also electing his conservative rival, ex-president Alvaro Uribe, to the senate.
Colombians went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new Congress, in a vote seen as a referendum on peace talks with the FARC guerrillas and an anticipation for May's presidential election.
Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs María Ángela Holguín complained on Wednesday about consistent verbal by the Venezuelan government on ex Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and the accusations of being the mastermind of the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced he would seek a second term in office next May, a widely expected decision that could offer him another four years to pursue a peace process he initiated with Marxist FARC rebels.I want a Colombia that is at peace and prosperous for all, Santos said in an address to the nation.