Colombia's Uribe calls for repeat of '06 election
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said he wants to repeat the 2006 presidential election that gave him a second term, in a combative response to a court ruling that said the vote was tainted by corruption.
The Supreme Court found late on Thursday that a former lawmaker was bribed into supporting a constitutional amendment that allowed the popular U.S.-ally to seek re-election.
Uribe's reaction to the ruling stood Colombian politics on its head. With about 80 percent popularity, according to opinion polls, analysts agree he could win another election and extend his time in office, but at a political price.
"This is his way of taking the momentum back from the court. It's a brilliant counterpunch," said Mauricio Romero, political science professor at Bogota's Javeriana University.
"He is saying that institutions do not matter as much as his popularity does."
It was unclear if the president's gambit was a serious bid for a special election or just a way to cow his detractors.
Even before the bribery scandal, Uribe had left open the possibility of another change in law that would allow him to run again in 2010, an idea that some of his closest allies disagree with.
The scandal and the president's answer to it upset local financial markets and could further complicate efforts at passing a trade deal with the United States even though Uribe is the White House's closest friend in South America.
A Wall Street favorite respected for his tireless work ethic and unbending opposition to leftist guerrillas who killed his father years ago in a kidnapping attempt, Uribe is known for confronting his critics head-on.
The bespectacled president is seen as a hero to many for cutting crime and sparking economic growth while cracking down on rebels fighting a four-decade-old insurgency.
Romero said he has been losing support among political leaders, government watchdog institutions and the media. "If he goes ahead with the idea of repeating the 2006 election it will be at a huge political cost," he said.
Colombia's peso currency fell on Friday after Uribe said Congress should approve a referendum to allow voters to decide if a repeat election will be held. This would take the matter out of the hands of the courts, with which Uribe has feuded over his hard-line policies.
The judges on Thursday sentenced ex-Congress member Yidis Medina to nearly four years of house arrest for accepting illegal favors from government officials in exchange for supporting the re-election bill.
PESO FALLS
The court also asked constitutional authorities to determine whether Uribe's re-election was legal in light of the bribery, raising the possibility that it could be overturned and sparking the ire of the famously short-tempered leader.
Colombia's peso fell 1.7 percent to 1,905 per U.S. dollar on what traders called political jitters after Uribe accused the judges of overstepping their bounds.
The opposition said Uribe is using the scandal to consolidate his already strong influence over Colombia.
"He's using a bribery case to justify a new election that would tighten his grip on power," said anti-Uribe columnist Ramiro Bejarano.
The scandal comes on top of investigations linking some of Uribe's closest congressional allies to far-right death squads. Dozens of coalition members are accused of using paramilitary thugs to intimidate voters.
The investigations have helped bog down a U.S. trade pact that is being blocked by U.S. Democrats concerned about Uribe's human rights record in a country that has suffered decades of guerrilla war funded by the cocaine trade.
At one meeting at the presidential palace, Medina said Uribe walked in and asked her to vote for the re-election measure, assuring her that his administration would honor its commitments to her.
But the government did not deliver on all its promises, which she says led her to go public.
(Editing by Vicki Allen and Jackie Frank)
