The former governor of Valle, Juan Carlos Abadia, who in May was suspended from holding public office for ten years, will reassume his post as governor on Tuesday after the department’s High Council of the Judiciary temporarily suspended the ban, reports RCN Radio.
According to the Council, the ten-year suspension – imposed after Abadia illegally supported former Agriculture Minister Andres Felipe Arias’ bid for the presidency in the Conservative Party primaries – must be reviewed and officially approved before it comes in to effect.
The ban’s suspension follows a petition by Abadia for the Council to review the decision handed down by the inspector general’s office. Abadia announced in May that he would fight the decision.
In May, Colombia’s inspector general removed Abadia as governor and banned him from public office for ten years for “using his position as governor of Valle to allow the presence of a presidential candidate [Arias] in a meeting with more than twenty municipal mayors that was suppose to be for official purposes,” which is “a clear example of non-objective behavior, that was biased and favored one candidate.”
According to Colombian law, elected officials are not allowed to interfere in or influence elections in any way, meaning that they are barred from openly supporting or opposing candidates.