Colombia's Senate Approves Uribe Re-election Bill

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe delivers a speech titled "U.S.-Colombian Relations: Moving Forward" at the Woodrow Wilson Center June 30, 2009 in Washington, DC. Uribe met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House yesterday where the two leaders talked about free trade, economic stabilization, fighting illegal drug trafficking and other subjects. (June 30, 2009 - Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America)

From The New York Times:

BOGOTA (AP) -- Colombia's Senate voted late Wednesday to pass a bill calling for a referendum on whether to change the constitution to allow President Alvaro Uribe to run for a third term.

The measure, which is to be voted on by the lower House next week, was approved 56-2 by senators after deputies from two opposition parties left the 102-member chamber. The opposition acknowledged earlier that they lacked the support to block the bill.

If the lower House approves the bill, it would then be submitted to the Constitutional Court, which would have three months to determine if the referendum was legal. Prospects for its passage through the lower House and Constitutional Court are uncertain.

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My Comment: If he is permitted to run for a third term .... he will win by a landslide. But I doubt that the lower House will permit him to run again.