Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos said that the controversial inspector general has every right to seek re-election, according to Radio Caracol on Tuesday.
In an interview on Medellin television station Teleantioqia where Santos confirmed that the Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez Maldonado, who was last week ordered to rectify anti-abortion claims, has the right to seek votes and stand for public office.
The president said that Ordoñez’ good work in the office means he won’t make any comment on the controversy surrounding the inspector general’s bid to be re-elected.
“I would love to give an opinion on everything at this time, there is so much controversy. Because the Constitution allows re-election, the inspector has every right to seek the votes, and the inspector has done a very good job, it would not be good for the election process for me to give opinions on anything in the last few days,” said Santos.
Ordoñez was ordered last week to publicly rectify a statement in which he called sexual education campaigns “Mass campaigns to promote abortion as a right.”
Additionally, the court ordered Ordoñez, a strict defender of traditional Catholic family values, to modify his office’s official stance that the use of the morning-after pill constitutes abortion, which in Colombia is only allowed in cases that involve rape, danger to the mother’s life or that the child will be born with severe defects.
A senator on Monday proposed legislation to prevent the re-election of a practicing officials, however the president said that this proposal wouldn’t stand in the way of anyone and that the person who most met the constitutional requirements would be elected.