Colombian President signs electoral reform bill

Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe signed legislation calling for a national referendum on amending the constitution to allow him to seek re-election for a second time.

The proposal now goes to the Constitutional Court for review. The court has 90 days to rule whether legislators met all requirements for proposing a constitutional amendment.

The constitution already has been amended once to permit him to serve a second consecutive four-year term.

The proposed referendum would let Colombians decide whether a president should be allowed to hold the office for three consecutive terms.

If the court approves the measure, at least 25% of voters, about 7.2 million, would have to cast ballots for the referendum to be valid.