Colombian president moves for third term

[Judi Lynn]

Colombian president moves for third term
By Naomi Mapstone in Medellín

Published: March 27 2009 18:21 | Last updated: March 27 2009 18:21

Alvaro Uribe, Colombia´s president, moved this week to strengthen his hand for a controversial third term as the Andean nation’s economy showed the strains of falling exports and faltering consumer confidence.

The president, who has an approval rating of about 70 per cent, this week secured the support of his coalition partners for a bill that would approve a national referendum to alter the consititution to allow for his candidacy, and appointed two supportive judges to the country´s constitutional court.

Mr Uribe has changed the constitution once before to allow for his current term in office, and to succeed a third time he would have to win the approval of Congress and the Constitutional Court as well as swaying 7.2m voters in a national referendum that could take place as early as October.

Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, Colombia´s finance minister, in Medellín this week for the 50th anniversary meeting of the Inter American Development Bank, said that in spite of the obstacles he would believed the president would secure a third term, given his high approval rating and recent polls that show 58 per cent of Colombians would support him in a referendum.

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