After controversy, they sink a project that sought to extend the mandate of the president and members of Congress until 2024

The controversial initiative that sought the approval of the extension of the presidential term of Iván Duque and other public officials ended this Thursday. The secretary of the House of Representatives signaled that the bill is in the process of being flown because it is not accompanied by the necessary signatures to fuel the process in the Legislature.

Although initially the document contained approximately 22 signatures of members of Congress who supported the text, with the controversy sparked and the call to the attention of the national government itself, 15 parliamentarians withdrew their signatures, leaving the bill without support.

The initiative also aimed to extend the tenure of members of Congress and that of the current prosecutor, lawyer and comptroller, with the intention of seeking to unify the presidential and legislative elections with those of mayors and governors; in addition to freezing the salaries of senators and House representatives for 10 years.

But that’s not all, the document indicates that the The constitutional period goes from 4 to 5 years for the President of the Republic, members of Congress, governors, mayors, deputies, councilors and councilors.

The reactions

Several members of Congress from the opposition, and even, from the same government party, the Centro Democrático, they strongly rejected this proposal. Several opinion leaders assured that it was a coup d’état when they wanted to modify several articles of the Constitution.

On Twitter, Petro said the plan to expand the aforementioned positions lent itself to “launching a coup”. With that, he assured that one of the alternatives to stop him is to take to the streets to mobilize and urged various unions to speak out.

One of the “visible faces” of the Green Alliance Party, Representative Goebertus, was among the first to react, to oppose the project and to question several of his colleagues in Congress for proposing the extension of Duque in power. “We will not let democracy break down”, the political scientist also condemned.

With letters signed by themselves, the representative in the House of Cauca, Carlos Julio Bonilla and the representative of Nariño, Hernán Gustavo Estupiñán Calvache, asked the company’s general secretary to withdraw their names in favor of the legislative act because “they do not support the initiative”.

The representative of the Radical Change Party, Salim Villamil Quessep de Sucre, Modesto Aguilera Vides and José Gabriel Amar Sepúlveda of the Atlantic also joined the retreats. Vice-President Marta Lucía Ramírez spoke on the issue, without mentioning the project, via her Twitter account.

“As President Iván Duque said: we were elected for the period ending August 7, 2022. Neither a day before nor a day after. Deep respect for our democracy. Our concerns and priorities are vaccination; economic reactivation and repowering; and inclusion of the informal population “

Interior Minister Daniel Palacios said in a trill that “President Iván Duque has made it clear that his term ends on August 7, 2022. The goal of the national government is mass vaccination, safe reactivation and sustainable social transformation. We will leave the president’s successor a country that is stronger in the face of the pandemic ”.

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