Colombian Opposition
Rejects President's Call
For Referendum On Rerun
of Election
Colombian opposition
leaders on Friday
rejected President
Alvaro Uribe's call for
a referendum to decide
whether to hold a new
presidential election,
after the Supreme Court
questioned the
legitimacy of his 2006
re-election.
Colombia's Supreme Court
on Thursday asked for a
review of the
legislative process that
enabled Uribe to run for
a second term, following
ex-lawmaker Yidis
Medina's admission that
she took a bribe to vote
for constitutional
amendment that enabled
Uribe to run again.
Opposition
representatives said
Uribe's call was not the
right response to the
court order.
"We must reject this
initiative because we
are walking to a
dictatorship... the
problem was not the
elections, but the
incidents prior to
them," said Liberal
Party senator Hector
Rojas.
Uribe said Thursday
night that he would ask
the Congress to approve
a referendum asking
Colombians if they
wanted to repeat the
election.
Carlo Gaviria, president
of the Alternative
Democratic Pole, accused
Uribe of giving a
political answer to a
legal issue.
"It is outrageous that
the president of a
country tells the court
what to do, which means
that the president is
above justice," Gaviria
said.
However, Interior
Minister Fabio Valencia
defended Uribe.
"The president took a
historical decision,
very responsible,
because the legality of
the government is being
questioned and that is
very serious," he said.
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