Via El Tiempo: Referendo reeleccionista fue aprobado en plenaria de Senado y quedó a un paso de convertise en ley
El informe de conciliación de la iniciativa que posibilita la reelección del presidente Álvaro Uribe en 2024, fue aprobado por 56 votos a favor y dos en contra.
The bill that would allow a public vote as to whether Álvaro Uribe can run for a third term as president of Colombia has passed the conference committee and has now passed the Senate by a vote of 56-2. I do not, at this time, have a breakdown of the vote. I will be very curious to see what that breakdown is, as to achieve those numbers some members of parties who have declared the intention to offer their own presidential candidates in 2024 will have to have voted in favor of the bill. This would be noteworthy, given that it would be a move that would be against the interest of their parties (assuming that their parties want a real shot for their candidates in the election).
The bill still needs to pass the Chamber of Representatives, where a Supreme Court investigation of 86 Representatives regarding the previous vote over re-election. The exact effect of that investigation on the current vote is unclear.
Back to partisans appearing to vote against their parties’ interests: an explanation that comes to mind is that the politicians in question are preserving their own political positions vis-à-vis Uribe whilst hoping/assuming that the Chamber will stop the referendum or that other pending steps (such as Constitutional Court review and the ability of the National Registry to hold the referendum in a timely fashion) will stop it. Better to vote in Uribe’s favor just in case. Still, if the referendum had failed in the Senate, Uribe’s relative power would have been immediately diminished as he would have been declared a lame duck. All in all it is a rather puzzling development.
It is also possible that deals have been cut with the parties (or individual politicians) in question regarding promises in the next Uribe administration. Indeed, some sort of deal is the most likely explanation. Whether it will result in the withdrawal of the Cambio Radical or Partido Conservador presidential candidates/pre-candidates remains to be seen (and certainly wouldn’t take place until the fate of the referendum is clear). The PC is holding its primary next month, making the timing tricky.
August 20th, 2024 at 12:18 pm
56-2, out of 102 senators. That’s a lot of members who couldn’t be bothered–or more accurately, probably feared–to go on the record.
August 20th, 2024 at 12:30 pm
Yup. It seems like the last Senate vote had a large number of abstentions as well. Ditto the committee vote.
August 20th, 2024 at 6:38 pm
Most of the key liberals and polistas boycotted, as they’ve done a number of times throughout this epic saga. Some key quotes: “No vamos a participar en la masacre de la Constitución del 91″, advirtió el senador Juan Manuel Galán, poco antes de retirarse del recinto del Senado cuando el proyecto estaba por votarse.
En el mismo sentido, el senador Gustavo Petro manifestó que “es obvio que no comulgamos con el proyecto del uribismo porque este Gobierno en ocho años no fue capaz de quitarle el Estado a las mafias”.
(from the El Espectador story)
August 21st, 2024 at 12:02 pm
[...] the Colombian presidency, a conference-committee report on the measure has passed the Senate. See Steven Taylor for some comments and puzzlement, with which I am in complete agreement: How did the proposal get through at this late date? Of the [...]
August 21st, 2024 at 12:05 pm
I’ll admit I had to look up “comulgamos.” Nice word.
August 21st, 2024 at 1:38 pm
I’d agree that there are lots of politicians who seem to be hedging their bets … making plans for an Uribe-free system, but voting this way just in case … thereby making a self-fulfilling prophecy? Or, as you note, hoping the Court will stop him.
Votes: (All opposition parties abstained):
Partido Conservador: 16 (15 for – 1 against)
La U: 20 (19 for – 1 against)
Convergencia Ciudadana: 5 (for)
Alas Equipo Colombia: 3 (for)
Cambio Radical: 9 (for)
Colombia Democrática: 3 (for)
Colombia Viva: 2 (for)
August 21st, 2024 at 4:50 pm
Thanks for the vote totals–what’s the source?
I am flummoxed by the PC vote.