Partido de la U leader Luis Carlos Restrepo on Tuesday denied that Colombian
President Alvaro Uribe had confirmed his aspirations for the 2010
presidency to members of the coalition.
Earlier that day, a number of coalition lawmakers said Uribe had confirmed his aspirations and had asked the parliamentarians to speed up the process in Congress that seeks to allow the President to be re-elected for a second time.
Restrepo, speaking to press in the Presidential Palace, denied this and said the President had told the coalition his re-election was one of the lesser important issues.
According to Restrepo, the most important thing for Uribe is the continuation of his policies and the strengthening of the coalition in Congress.
The Partido de la U chairman told press his party members probably were overtaken by wishful thinking and because of this interpreted the president’s words as a confirmation of their wish that he will be re-elected in May 2010.
Uribe has still not publicly spoken about his aspirations. A number of coalition politicians have said they would be willing to run for the presidency, but they want the popular current President to rule out his candidacy first.