Petro re-election? What congressmen, officials and the president himself say

President Gustavo Petro He assured that he is not interested “not at all“get re-elected, in reference to a proposal of Senator Isabel Zuleta, who stated that the ruling coalition Historical Pact I would be promoting this initiative.

“Personally, I am not interested in re-election at all.“said the head of state in his X account in which he attacked the former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010).

(See: What is known about the decoration that Palestine would give to President Petro).

In an interview with Cablenews Zuleta said: “It is not President Petro who is talking about re-election. There are many of us activists. We do want re-election. And we say it up front and we are promoting it“.

In the same message, Petro criticized, without mentioning them, the former presidents Álvaro Uribe and Juan Manuel Santos, who were re-elected.

“Those who did take advantage of it (reelection) and called for war and peace, now propose coups d’état. The reason is one: They failed to comply. They didn’t know what they signed“Petro wrote.

(See: Gustavo Petro assures that he will not present a constituent to Congress).

Before, the Minister of the Interior, Luis Fernando Velasco, assured on the issue of re-election that the “The government is not in that, nor is the president in that.“.

Velasco said that he respects the congresswoman’s proposal, but warned that the country “you already have too many difficulties and problems“so that it is now ‘entangled’ with a presidential re-election process.

(See: Petro asks the prosecutor to demand corruption suspects in the UNGRD to return the money).

He also stated that re-election is not a priority for the country, well “It already has too many difficulties and problems for us to get entangled in an issue in which neither the president nor the Government is involved.“.

On April 25, Petro assured that “progressivism does deserve four more years” in power after he ends his term on August 7, 2026.

The mandatary, elected in 2022, He assured on that occasion that Colombia must “advance towards a nation and a nation does not shed its blood, it does not self-destruct, it goes towards common objectives and the common objective is that each person (…) can live anywhere in the national territory feeling pride and dignity of being in this paradise“.

(See: Government denies that President Petro is contemplating closing Congress).

In 2005, Uribe managed to approve a constitutional modification for immediate presidential re-election, something that was not contemplated in the Magna Carta and that allowed him to be in power for two consecutive terms.

The last president who managed to be re-elected was Santos, who governed between 2010 and 2018. But once he won his second term, he promoted a constitutional reform that ended with immediate presidential re-election in 2015.

EFE