Colombian Court Blocks Third Term for Uribe

Colombia’s constitutional court ended a two-year-old waiting game on February 26 when it voted against a reelection referendum that could have paved the way for President Álvaro Uribe to seek a third term. In a vote of 7 to 2, the court rejected the referendum as unconstitutional, saying that it was not only laden with irregularities but “substantial violations to democratic principles.” By sounding the referendum’s death knell, the court set off a presidential race previously frozen in limbo and candidates are recalibrating their campaigns for a May 30 election that won’t list Uribe on the ballot. Beforehand, Colombia holds legislative elections on March 14.

The president, in Barranquilla at another event when the news hit, said he would respect the ruling. "I hope to serve Colombia from the trenches, under any circumstance, until the last day of my life," said Uribe, who has maintained high approval ratings throughout his presidency. He has been heralded for substantially improving public safety and quelling the country’s violent conflict with guerillas. Lower crime rates helped boost the economy and foreign investment. In 2005, the constitutional court approved an amendment allowing single reelection, permitting Uribe’s run in 2006 for a second term. At the time, he won with over 60 percent of the vote.

While his supporters gathered signatures and pushed the referendum through to the court to allow a third term, Uribe did not clearly declare whether he intended to run again. During a September 2009 AS/COA luncheon, Uribe stated that “Colombia needs to reelect policies, not people.”  But at another AS/COA event a year later, he responded to a question about a third term by saying: “[A]s a member of a generation that has not lived one single day in peace, I have to fight until the end of my life.” Although uncertainty surrounded his candidacy, polls placed him well ahead of others in the running.

Still, as the court’s decision neared, Colombian support for the referendum and a third Uribe term flagged. February polls found that a majority of voters opposed a third term. Even as Uribe’s approval ratings remained high, concern grew over wiretapping and “false positives” scandals, coupled with his increased control over state institutions. Critics argued that allowing a third term would harm the country’s democracy.  During Uribe’s June 2009 visit to the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama weighed in by saying “in the United States…two terms works for us.”

With Uribe out of the running, who will take his place come August 7 is unclear. The president has not yet publicly endorsed a successor, although his former defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, is a likely choice. A poll taken shortly before the court’s decision put Santos in a narrow lead, with 13 percent. Gustavo Petro of the Democratic Independent Pole holds second place with 12 percent and Medellin’s charismatic former mayor Sergio Fajardo commands 10 percent. The Conservative Party’s Andrés Felipe Arias also polls at 10 percent.

Learn more

• “Four Months Until Colombia’s Election: Is President Uribe Already Running?” by AS/COA’s Mateo Samper, AQ blog, January 21, 2010.
• AS/COA news analysis on Juan Manuel Santos’ candidacy and the debate over whether President Uribe would run.
• Release outlining the Colombian constitutional court’s decision.
• Press conference of the court’s decision regarding the reelection referendum, February 26, 2010 (Video).
• President Uribe’s remarks in Barranquilla, Colombia, regarding the court’s decision.
• Votebien’s chronology of the reelections referendum, starting March 12, 2008.
• Semana examines the Uribe era, as well as what its end meand for Colombia.