MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uribe ratifies re-election referendum bill and further stirs controversy

Uribe apparently won’t announce if he is running until after the referendum

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Tuesday signed a bill which opens the way for his second consecutive re-election and immediately addressed it to the Constitutional Court for its review.

Uribe has not said publicly whether he wants another turn in office, and rather insists with his successful policies for a “strong democracy”. But his government has lobbied hard for the referendum and his signing of the bill indicates he may launch another campaign if given the chance.

The Constitutional Court advanced that the process will take months and called for different sectors of the Colombian society to collaborate in the consideration. The next presidential election is scheduled for May 2010.

Colombia changed its constitution once to allow Uribe to run for a second term in 2006. He is the Colombian president with the longest and strongest support in decades for his crackdown on drug-running Marxist rebels and for having boosted the economy.

But many of his supporters, the Catholic Church, opposition parties say a third term would concentrate too much power in the Executive branch, upsetting the country's democratic balance of power.

In case the referendum initiative is approved by the Constitutional Court, 25% of the electorate must participate (7 million voters) in the referendum either to support or reject it. However Court president Nilson Pinilla also cautioned that the process is long and must check into possible errors of procedure which could declare the referendum illegal.

Opposition parties claim the initiative is illegal since there are evidence of irregularities in collecting votes, as well as in the legislative procedure, since the government obtained the needed majorities “in exchange for post, favours and perks”.

Interior Minister Fabio Valencia Cossio said Uribe will not decide on his 2010 aspirations until after the referendum is held, but he is legally obliged to announce his candidacy before November 30.

This means the referendum needs to be approved by the Court, organized and effectively instrumented, voted by a majority of voters and ratified by the Electoral Court before December..

The Electoral Court however has not approved the necessary funding for the referendum to take place, even though it officially received the request two months ago.