Colombia’s government to call referendum if Senate refuses to redo vote on it – Colombia News

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro will call a labor reform referendum on Sunday if the Senate refuses to redo a vote on it, said Interior Minister Armando Benedetti on Tuesday.

In a press conference, Benedetti said that the Senate’s May 14 vote, which sank the referendum, was null and void because of a procedural error.

If the Senate refuses to redo the vote on the referendum before June 1, it will miss the 30-day deadline to take a legally binding decision, the interior minister told the press.

Consequently, said Benedetti, the president will be able to call the referendum he filed before Congress on May 1 without the approval of the Senate.

The procedural error

The interior minister told the press that Senate president Efrain Cepeda, a vocal opponent of Petro’s labor reform proposals, violated congressional procedural rules as he tried to rush the referendum through the high chamber.

Article 125 of the Fifth Law of 1992 states that before a vote there must be a reading of the proposal. It was not read. Therefore, the Senate did not vote on it. We do not know what was voted. The Senate has not taken a decision.

Interior Minister Armando Benedetti

According to the article mentioned by Benedetti, “the proposal to be voted on shall be read again once the discussion is closed.”

The minister showed a video in which Senate secretary announced a “vote on the national referendum presented by the president of the Republic, Mr. Gustavo Petro Urrego, and his ministers on the first of May of 2025, as published in the Congressional Gazette number 604 of 2025. That’s the next point, mister president.’

“Mister secretary, open the registry for the vote and continue the debate at nine,” Cepeda responded immediately.

The senate president has insisted that the vote was legally binding despite the fact that at least one government coalition senator was unable to return to her seat on time for the vote.

Added pressure

Benedetti’s announcement came as labor unions and social organizations were making the final preparations for a 48-hour strike that is expected to disrupt public life throughout Colombia on Wednesday and Thursday.

Both the government and the labor unions have rejected the Senate’s proposal to come up with an alternative labor reform that could count on the support of “oligarchic elites and big business.”