COLOMBIA: URIBE Wants to Repeat 2006 Election Amid a Bribery Scandal

[magbana]

Colombia's Uribe calls for vote
President Alvaro Uribe gestures during a speech in Bogota, 26 June 2008
Mr Uribe and his government have denied offering bribes to lawmakers

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has called for a referendum to determine if there should be a new presidential poll amid a bribery scandal.

The move comes after the Supreme Court called for an investigation into the legality of his re-election in 2006.

A former politician had been convicted of taking a bribe to support the constitutional reform that granted Mr Uribe an unprecedented second term.

Mr Uribe enjoys a high popularity rating in Colombia.

"I am going to convene Congress so that it can produce as swiftly as possible legislation on a referendum, that would call the people to repeat the 2006 presidential election," Mr Uribe said in a nationally broadcast radio and television address.

"The right path has to be democratic rule," he said.

US ally

The bribery allegations date back to 2004, when a constitutional change approved by Congress eliminated the rule limiting Colombia's presidents to one term in office.

The Supreme Court sentenced former Congress member Yidis Medina to nearly four years of house arrest after she said senior government members offered her supporters jobs if she voted for the re-election bill.

Ms Medina went public when the government officials did not keep all their promises.

Charges are now expected to be filed against the officials who persuaded her to vote.

Congress is also investigating if Mr Uribe was directly involved in the bribery.

The Colombian president is seen as one of America's staunchest allies in South America and the US hopes to sign a free trade agreement with Bogota.

Mr Uribe, under whom crime has fallen and the economy has grown, is popular at home and won re-election in 2006 by a wide margin.

The next elections are scheduled for 2010.

Without another constitutional change, Mr Uribe will not able to stand in these elections.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7476752.stm

http://snipurl.com/2q12d

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombia's president calls for snap election as bribe flap growsHenry OrregoPublished: Friday, June

Colombia's president calls for snap election as bribe flap grows
Henry Orrego
Published: Friday, June 27, 2008

BOGOTA, Columbia - President Alvaro Uribe called for a replay of his 2006 reelection on Friday, after the Supreme Court challenged its legality in a political standoff that has politicians scratching their heads over the country's political future.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a review of a 2006 law that allowed the president's re-election - previously barred in Colombia - because it was approved by lawmakers found to have taken government bribes.

"If the Supreme Court has any doubts about my election, let's consult the people to see what they have to say," Uribe told his legal adviser Edmundo del Castillo, El Tiempo reported Friday.

Seizing on his high approval ratings, Uribe late Thursday asked Congress to authorize a new referendum to ask Colombians if they want to vote again on presidential re-election.

Uribe, the US government's closest ally in Latin America, also struck back directly at the Supreme Court, charging it with making "false accusations," and calling on Congress to investigate the justices.

More:
http://www.dose.ca/news/story.html?id=15beb688-6c66-4592-a6e1-9134310b7784

[Judi Lynn]

2. Colombian president's move could extend his time in office

Colombian president's move could extend his time in office
Tyler Bridges

June 27, 2008 4:51 PM

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

CARACAS, Venezuela - Colombia plunged into political uncertainty Friday as opponents of President Alvaro Uribe accused him of acting like a ''dictator'' because he called for new elections that could allow him to extend his stay in office beyond the end of his current term in 2010.

The controversy stems from a Supreme Court decision Thursday that raises questions about the legitimacy of Uribe's 2006 re-election, which gave the Colombian leader an unprecedented second term.

~snip~
Sen. Gustavo Petro, a leading Uribe opponent, was ceding no ground on Friday.

''We're in the process of heading toward a coup d'etat,'' Petro said by telephone. ''He's trying to make legitimate his past election. That's what dictators do.''

http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565322549460074764

[Judi Lynn]

3. President Of Colombia Seeks Replay Of ’06 Vote

June 28, 2008
President Of Colombia Seeks Replay Of ’06 Vote
By SIMON ROMERO

CARACAS, Venezuela — Faced with an intensifying corruption scandal involving his re-election to a second term in 2006, President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia threw the country’s political establishment into turmoil on Thursday night by calling for the vote to be held again.

The move opened Mr. Uribe to accusations that he was seeking to extend his stay in office beyond 2010, when his term expires. His political supporters had already been trying in recent months to amend the Constitution to allow him to run for a third term.

~snip~
Indeed, Mr. Uribe’s battle with the Supreme Court comes at a politically delicate time. Citing human rights concerns, Democratic leaders in Washington have stalled approval of the Bush administration’s trade deal with Colombia, the United States’ most significant military ally in Latin America.

The Colombian trade deal has also emerged as a contentious issue in the American presidential campaign. Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, opposes it, while the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, is scheduled to visit Colombia next week to show support for Mr. Uribe’s government.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/28/world/americas/28colombia.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

[Judi Lynn]

4. Uribe wants a redo of the '06 presidential vote

Uribe wants a redo of the '06 presidential vote
From the Associated Press
June 28, 2008

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- President Alvaro Uribe has thrown Colombia into political turmoil after a Supreme Court decision questioning the legitimacy of his 2006 reelection led him to ask that voters have an opportunity to redo the vote.

Uribe said he would press Congress to approve a referendum asking voters whether they want to repeat the 2006 presidential election.

Sen. Hector Eli Rojas of the opposition Liberal Party accused Uribe of seeking the plebiscite as "an excuse for a third term."

Presidential spokesman Cesar Mauricio Velasquez said Friday that Uribe's "only interest is to confirm the legitimacy of his election" for the term that ends in 2010.

Uribe, who has a high approval rating, has declined to rule out seeking a third term, which would require a change in the constitution.

His announcement Thursday night came just hours after the Supreme Court questioned the legitimacy of the law that amended the constitution so he could run for a second term, suggesting that it had resulted from "criminal acts" in a bribery scandal involving some of Uribe's closest aides.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-fg-colombia28-2008jun28,0,1718933.story?track=rss

[Judi Lynn]

5. Colombia: Uribe seeks to consolidate "dictatorship"

Colombia: Uribe seeks to consolidate "dictatorship"
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Sun, 06/29/2008 - 03:13.
In a national broadcast June 27, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe called for a referendum on holding a new presidential election after the country's Supreme Court of Justice called for a review of the constitutional change that allowed him to run for a second term in 2006. Uribe said Congress should quickly pass legislation he will submit to approve the referendum, but didn't say whether the election would be for a new full four-year term or to legitimize his remaining two years.

The move opens Uribe to further accusations that he is seeking to extend his stay in office beyond 2010, when his term expires. His supporters are already calling for a new constitutional amendment allowing him to run for a third term.

The court made the decision after the conviction of Yidis Medina, a former lower-house legislator who confessed she was bribed by the government with promises of jobs for her supporters in exchange for her vote for the constitutional change allowing Uribe's second term. Sentenced to 47 months house arrest, she was transfered to prison following the Supreme Court decision.

Uribe, who won the 2006 election with 62% of the vote, blasted the ruling. "This high court's justices have lent themselves to a power {struggle} which seems not to have a legal solution," he said in his televised address.

The votes of two legislators, Medina and Teodolindo Avendano—also arrested over the bribery charges—helped push the election bill through in November 2004. Medina said that Uribe was aware of the bribes, though the president and his ministers have denied any wrongdoing. The scandal comes on top of investigations linking some of Uribe's closest congressional allies to the illegal right-wing paramilitaries.

http://ww4report.com/node/5713