Why is President Iván Duque not running for re-election in Colombia?

Duque exalts diplomatic siege and recognizes "error" in forecast about Maduro 8:28

(CNN Spanish) --

In a few days a very important date for Colombia will arrive: the presidential elections.

It is the end of Iván Duque's mandate after four convulsive years marked by protests, strikes, a pandemic and many cabinet changes.

On Sunday, June 19, Colombians will take to the streets to vote, in the second round, for president and vice president.

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The current president of Colombia, Iván Duque, will finish his four-year term as indicated by law, so he will hold office until August 7 of this year, after starting his term on August 7, 2018.

In the two previous governments there had been re-election of the leaders.

Why in the case of Duque does this no longer apply?

We tell you.

Why is the re-election of the president not allowed in Colombia?

In 2015, the Colombian Congress approved the elimination of the re-election of presidents in the country.

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This was achieved in the eighth debate on the balance of powers reform, which was presented by the Government of Juan Manuel Santos.

At that time, the plenary session of the House of Representatives approved article 11 of the reform, which determines that a citizen who has held that position cannot be elected to the presidency.

After the approval of said article, article 197 of the Political Constitution of Colombia was modified, with which it was expressed as follows:

• "A citizen who has exercised the Presidency in any capacity may not be elected President of the Republic. This prohibition does not cover the Vice President when he has exercised it for less than three months, continuously or discontinuously, during the four-year period. The prohibition of the re-election can only be reformed or repealed through a popular initiative referendum or constituent assembly".

Therefore, re-election is not allowed in any case for the president;

As for the vice president, he can only be re-elected if in the four-year government in question he only held the position for less than three months.

It should be noted that Santos was the last president of Colombia who could opt for re-election: he was elected for the first time in 2010 and in 2014 he was re-elected for another four years.

Before Juan Manuel Santos, Álvaro Uribe, who is now being investigated for the alleged crimes of procedural fraud and bribery, was also re-elected: his first term began in 2002 and he was re-elected in 2006 for another four years.

Uribe promoted a reform of the Constitution in 2004 after a legislative procedure that allowed re-election, in a process later questioned known as the 'Yidispolítica', the scandal uncovered in 2008 in which former congresswoman Yidis Medina acknowledged receiving offers from members of the Government of Uribe for constitutional reform.

In that case, two former ministers were sentenced.

Before Uribe, re-election was not contemplated in the 1991 Constitution, and the previous president to have been re-elected was Alfonso López Pumarejo in 1942, under the 1886 Constitution.

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