MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombian president closer to re-re-election, but it’s not that simple

Uribe still has several political and diplomatic hurdles ahead of him

Colombia’s Senate passed a bill late Wednesday that may pave the way for a national referendum on whether to allow President Alvaro Uribe to seek a third consecutive term in next year’s presidential election.

The measure, calling for a referendum to change the constitution, had been stalled for weeks in the committee but the government has launched an all-out lobbying effort. Uribe remains the most popular Colombian president in recent history with support ratings in the range of 70%.

Congress already changed the constitution once to allow Uribe, a US-backed conservative, to stand for re-election in 2006. Tuesday's committee vote reconciled different versions of the new referendum bill passed by the Senate and lower House, where the measure still faces an uncertain future.

“The real difficulty was never to get the bill out of the reconciliation committee. It has always been to get the 84 votes we need on the floor of the full House and that difficulty remains,” said Nicolas Uribe, a pro-government member of the House who is not related to the president. The vote is scheduled for next week.

Uribe is a key ally of Washington's in a region where neighbouring governments regularly criticize US policy and are strengthening ties with Russia, China and Iran.

Colombia, an exporter of coal, coffee and oil, is also the world's top producer of cocaine, putting it at the forefront of international anti-narcotics efforts.

A proposal to allow US forces to use up to seven Colombian military bases has raised tensions in the region. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday a new security pact with Bogotá, which has received more than 5 billion US dollars in US aid since 2000, was aimed at fighting drug trafficking and Marxist FARC guerrillas and will not create US bases in Colombia.

But even some of Uribe's staunchest supporters in Colombia and the United States say that another constitutional change could throw off the country's democratic balance of powers.

The Colombian Catholic Church has also called for a reconsideration of the initiative and so have powerful business groups of the country. Uribe is also lobbying strongly for US congress approval of a free trade agreement with the US.

Uribe easily won re-election three years ago and remains popular for pushing FARC insurgents onto the defensive. But discontent is growing over Uribe's handling of Colombia's economic recession.

Uribe has repeatedly argued he is only interested in the re-re-election of his main policies, such as “democratic security” and combating illegal armed groups.

Even if he does not run in May's election, the president's tough security stance has become ingrained in Colombia and is unlikely to change. The leading alternative candidate is Juan Manuel Santos, Uribe's hard line former defence minister.