A group of Colombian Congress members are considering retracting and resubmitting the judicial reform bill in order to clear up a number of issues, including various conflicts of interest that would prevent some current congress members from voting on the proposal.
Other concerns include a number of recent amendments to the proposal and a proposal to allow congress members convicted by the Supreme Court of paramilitary ties a second appeal to a higher body, reported El Espectador.
The group has asked the government – the press report was not more specific – to analyze whether it was necessary to retract and resubmit the iniciative.
“I believe that it is open-heart surgery because it is an iniciative that was dying and what is going to be done is that those who couldn’t vote and were blocked, with the adjustments will be able to vote, said the president of Citizen Convergence, Samuel Benjamín Arrieta.
Conflicts of interest have arisen for various reasons, but primarily due to the ongoing investigations of congress members for paramilitary ties.
The government can either retract the proposal and reintroduce it or submit a new version. But the first option requires a vote that puts in risk another discussion of the conflicts of interest, Arrieta told El Espectador.