Uribe’s crackdown on leftist rebels has proved highly popular in a nation stricken by four decades of warfare, and recent polls have put his approval ratings at 70 percent.
But under the Colombian constitution, elected officials are not allowed to run for consecutive terms. The proposed amendment would allow the president to serve a maximum of two consecutive four-year terms.
In October, a Colombian Senate commission rejected a bill drawn up by a handful of pro-Uribe lawmakers that would have allowed the president to run again, criticizing it as tailor-made for Uribe. At the time, Uribe didn’t publicly endorse the legislation.
