COLOMBIA: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT APPROVES REFERENDUM.
On July 10, the Corte Constitucional (CC) approved 15 of the 19 points proposed by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez for a referendum by which the government wants to reduce the size of Congress, freeze public salaries, control spending, and make other reforms. He is counting on his strong 70% approval rating to carry the referendum.
Uribe first raised the possibility of a referendum when he took office Aug. 7, 2002, saying it would eliminate clientelism and corruption (see NotiSur, 2002-05-31). It was passed by Congress in December 2002, but needed approval by the CC.
The government said it would hold the referendum either October 19 or 25. Many politicians, however, objected to another election so close to Oct. 26, when voters will choose 32 governors, 1,091 mayors, and more than 11,000 local officials.
On July 10, the president of the Consejo Electoral, Guillermo Reyes, said that 6.1 million people must vote in the referendum for it to be legal. He said Colombia has about 24 million eligible voters and popular consultations require the participation of 25% of that number.
The Uribe administration has now begun the campaign to convince people to vote in the referendum against political corruption and for reducing the size of the state. Uribe is counting on his strong support to win the voters' approval.
Some 40% of Colombian voters will "definitely" or "probably" vote in the referendum, down from 59% eight months ago, according to a Gallup poll published in the July 13 issue of Semana magazine. The poll was taken July 10, just after the court gave final approval for the referendum to be held.
The referendum will likely have 15 'yes-no' questions, including whether to freeze most government spending-- including salaries for state employees but excluding military spending--and whether to cap pensions.
If these and other fiscal measures pass, the government says it will save 0.7% of GDP this year and 1.3% of GDP next year. The goal set with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to cut the public-sector fiscal deficit to 2.5% of GDP this year, from 3.6% in 2002.
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More than half the voters must say yes to a specific question for it to pass. But in recent surveys, less than 5% of respondents said they had a good understanding of the issues. Colombia Report said that researchers found it took 27 minutes to thoroughly read the then 19-point referendum. Four less points will not significantly shorten the time...
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