The Colombian Constitutional Court on Monday ruled that members of Congress and city councilors can resign their posts and run for Congress the following day, Caracol Radio reports.
Previously, in order to be eligible to run for Congress, government officials were required to resign one year before they planned to launch their Congressional campaigns. But now, officials could resign on February 1, for example, and run for Congress on February 2.
The Court also ruled that for the upcoming March 2010 elections, officials only had to resign six months prior to running for Congress.
The Court said that the ruling had procedural defects as the fourth and eight debates in the Senate’s plenary session had not yet been approved.