No referendum for Colombia …

By: Elson Concepcion

Havana, Cuba. - A referendum to determine whether the current Colombian President Alvaro Uribe could run for another term in office was just thwarted. The Bogota Constitutional Court repealed the law that provided for this consultation with a 7-2 vote. 
 
When the Court chairman, Mauricio Gonzalez, made the announcement last Friday, he was interrupted by the audience’s approbatory applauses. The participants were aware that this ruling has been eagerly awaited for the last few months in Colombia. The country has been deeply uncertain whether Uribe, who took over in 2002, could run for a new 4 years term. 
 
The critics of the current leader’s politics find the Court’s decision very healthy, because it clears off a campaign that had so far been “a ruse”, devoid of any political debate. 
 
There are also cases, like former Congressman Luis Guillermo Giraldo, initial promoter of the referendum, who sadly said that the country needed 4 more years for Uribe to wipe out FARC (Colombian guerrilla) and drug traffic. 
 
The ruling was issued at a time when, according to the surveys, it was not clear whether the number of voters required by the law would go to the polls.   
 
The surveys of vote intention do not show President Uribe with possibilities to win in the first round of next May 30 elections, if he had run for a third term in office. 
 
After the Court’s decision to ban the referendum, the limelight focuses in which of the running candidates may win and if a second round will be required in mid June, in case none gets more than 50% of the votes in the first round scheduled for next May 30. 
 
The surveys point out that the leading runners are 3 candidates who, in general terms, promise to follow Uribe’s policies or suggest a few unsubstantial changes. 
 
They are the former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos; the former mayor of Medellin, Sergio Fajardo, and former Foreign Minister, Noemi Sanin. 
 
The only candidates that openly oppose Uribe are Senator Gustavo Petro, from the leftist Democratic Alternative Pole, and Rafael Pardo, from the Liberal Party. 

 
Translated by: Pedro A. Fanego

( 03.12.2009 10:13 AM )