**Colombia’s Constitutional Court has begun final deliberations on whether to allow President Alvaro Uribe to seek a third consecutive term in office.**The court’s nine judges will then vote on the legality of a referendum asking if the constitution should be amended.
Mr Uribe won an amendment in 2005 that let him run for a second term in 2006.
The president has not yet said he hopes to stand in the 30 May election, but analysts expect he would. He has until 12 March to declare his candidacy.
Mr Uribe remains popular after pursuing aggressive military action against leftist Farc rebels, and no strong challengers to him have emerged.
Tight deadline
Last year, Colombia’s Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly backed a proposed amendment on term limits.
“We cannot change direction, we cannot have a change of guard”
Alvaro Uribe
Colombian President
“Whoever has been elected president of the republic for two constitutional terms can be elected solely for one other term,” it states.
But correspondents say that even if the Constitutional Court approves a referendum as it did in 2005, it would be difficult for electoral authorities to organise one before the candidacy deadline expires next month.
It is likely that whatever the outcome, any candidate chosen to replace the president from among his allies would continue his Democratic Security Policy, the foundation of his popularity, they add.
“Those policies have to be re-elected whatever the decision of the court,” Mr Uribe said on Thursday evening.
“We cannot change direction, we cannot have a change of guard.”
Mr Uribe was re-elected once before in 2006 after a referendum backed an amendment allowing presidents a second term.
But critics say allowing him to stand again might threaten democracy.
Mr Uribe’s second term has been marred by scandals over human rights abuses by troops and the illegal wiretapping of his opponents by the state intelligence agency.
On Wednesday, police re-arrested a cousin and close ally of the president, former senator Mario Uribe Escobar, as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged links between politicians and right-wing paramilitary groups.
More than 60 politicians are still in jail in connection with the case known as the “para-political” scandal.