President Petro asked the Senate to repeat the referendum vote: Is it possible?

Following the Senate's rejection of the referendum, President Gustavo Petro spoke out in a speech from China. The president was critical of the legislative branch's decision and lashed out at the head of the Senate, Efraín Cepeda. As part of his message, he asked the Senate to repeat the vote.

"I ask the Senate to put the referendum to a vote again. I ask the people of Colombia; I will be ready to follow their orders in response. The people's time has come," President Petro asserted.

The president did not provide a legal basis for his request, and the truth is, there is none. Law 5 of 1992, which governs Congressional procedures, contains no provision stating that a vote may be repeated at the request of the president of the Republic.

However, the president's request must be based on the demands made by members of his party during Wednesday's session. Senator María José Pizarro, of the Historic Pact, filed an appeal.

If applied by analogy, the Fifth Law establishes that appeals must be decided by the Senate plenary. That is, the same body that rejected the referendum will be the one that will have to decide whether or not to reopen the vote.

There is also the request to reopen the debate, which must also be addressed by the Senate plenary. In any case, these would be the two legal avenues, according to experts on the workings of Congress, through which President Gustavo Petro's request could be fulfilled.

Beyond these two possibilities, there would be no way out. The law regulating the participation mechanisms does not outline another path if the Senate does not approve the call for the referendum.

In addition to calling for a repeat vote, President Gustavo Petro was broadly critical of his Senate in his speech. "We didn't expect such a gruesome event as the one in the Senate of the Republic. They weren't even able to win the referendum through the votes of senators. They had to cheat, like the fraud of April 19, 1970, which led us to decades of violence," said the head of state, who was accompanied by several of the ministers who had accompanied him during his visit to the Asian giant.

The president also asserted that Senator Martha Peralta, a member of the ruling party, was not allowed to vote and called the Senate Secretary, Diego Alejandro González, "devious," the person who, according to the government, changed Senator Edgar Díaz's vote. However, Senate records show that the alleged vote change, as reported by the government, was always negative, and the same opposition parliamentarian corroborated this.

He also questioned the president of the Senate, the conservative Efraín Cepeda, for, according to President Petro, having "accelerated the closing of the vote when he was one vote ahead. Sly, believing that's how Colombian history is made. This is all that's done is clown around, calling the country to violence."

"A misstep has been taken by a portion of the Senate and its president. I believe it's time to respond, but we must respond with the wisdom of a determined people, who have already demonstrated their majority, both in public squares and in those polls they conduct," the president added.

In that sense, he called on citizens "not to remain silent" and "to debate in permanent assembly, I ask the open town council of Bogotá, there in the District Council, in the plaza, if they do not let them in, that the organizations meet at the national level, the Federation of Cooperatives, the National Federation of Communal Action, the National Peasant Coordination, with its million registered members, demanding land in Colombia, the labor unions, the youth movement, the indigenous minga, Colombian diversity, Afro organizations (...) so that they propose and all the municipal councils discuss whether or not to approve the proposals that the same popular movement must draw up. We have some, but it is up to the people to make a decision" , said the head of State.

And he added that "this is the people's moment, the people's time has come. The response to corruption and fraud within the Senate will be calm, joyful, and will not use violence against anyone. It must be profoundly forceful. We can't wait until next year."

But he insisted that no weapons would be raised against the people and asked citizens not to resort to violence during their demonstrations.

Juan Sebastian Lombo Delgado