Juan Manuel Santos, head of the Partido de la U and former defense minister, said on Thursday that he doubts that the Constitutional Court will approve the re-election referendum on allowing Uribe to run for a third presidential term.
Santos was quoted by Terra as saying that “the possibility that the referendum will pass [the Constitutional Court] is becoming smaller” and that “I wouldn’t bet on it.”
Santos went on to explain that he would not make his candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections official until Alvaro Uribe is guaranteed not to be running.
The first round of the presidential elections is scheduled for May of this year.
Santos added that the recent proposal by Interior and Justice Minister Fabio Valencia Cossio to change Colombia’s system of government from presidential to parliamentary is impossible to do given the time-frame, and shouldn’t be considered a viable option at the moment.
Cossio was reported on Wednesday to have proposed the reform in order to create a government that would allow the country to more effectively achieve its political objectives.
He explained that his proposal was only intended to be for future consideration.