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Colombia's Uribe calls for vote Colombia's Uribe calls for vote
(about 1 hour later)
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has asked Congress to schedule a referendum mandating a new presidential election. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has called for a referendum to determine if there should be a new presidential poll amid a bribery scandal.
This comes after the Supreme Court asked the country's constitutional court to investigate the legality of his re-election in 2006. The move comes after the Supreme Court called for an investigation into the legality of his re-election in 2006.
It follows the conviction of a former politician who took a bribe to support the constitutional reform which granted Mr Uribe an unprecedented second term. A former politician had been convicted of taking a bribe to support the constitutional reform that granted Mr Uribe an unprecedented second term.
Mr Uribe enjoys a high popularity rating in Colombia.Mr Uribe enjoys a high popularity rating in Colombia.
"I am going to convene Congress so that it can produce as swiftly as possible legislation on a referendum, that would call the people to repeat the 2006 presidential election," Mr Uribe said in a nationally broadcast radio and television address."I am going to convene Congress so that it can produce as swiftly as possible legislation on a referendum, that would call the people to repeat the 2006 presidential election," Mr Uribe said in a nationally broadcast radio and television address.
"The right path has to be democratic rule," he said.
US ally
The bribery allegations date back to 2004, when a constitutional change approved by Congress eliminated the rule limiting Colombia's presidents to one term in office.The bribery allegations date back to 2004, when a constitutional change approved by Congress eliminated the rule limiting Colombia's presidents to one term in office.
Mr Uribe won re-election in 2006 by a wide margin. The Supreme Court sentenced former Congress member Yidis Medina to nearly four years of house arrest after she said senior government members offered her supporters jobs if she voted for the re-election bill.
Ms Medina went public when the government officials did not keep all their promises.
Charges are now expected to be filed against the officials who persuaded her to vote.
Congress is also investigating if Mr Uribe was directly involved in the bribery.
The Colombian president is seen as one of America's staunchest allies in South America and the US hopes to sign a free trade agreement with Bogota.
Mr Uribe, under whom crime has fallen and the economy has grown, is popular at home and won re-election in 2006 by a wide margin.
The next elections are scheduled for 2010.
Without another constitutional change, Mr Uribe will not able to stand in these elections.