Amid an Investigation into ‘Election Campaigning’ Gustavo Petro’s Provisional Suspension was Ordered
The House of Representatives’ Committee on Investigation and Accusation ordered the provisional suspension of President Gustavo Petro while he is investigated for his alleged involvement in the election campaign. The measure is unprecedented in Colombia.
The president of the House of Representatives’ Investigation and Accusation Commission, Gloria Arizabaleta, ordered the “provisional suspension” of Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday while she investigates him for his alleged involvement in the election campaign.
The congresswoman, a member of the Historical Pact, the same party as Petro, ordered the president to be “provisionally suspended from office” until June 21 at 4:00 p.m. local time (9:00 p.m. GMT), when the polls close for the second round of the presidential elections.
Arizabaleta argued his decision by stating that he can order the provisional suspension of the president “provided that there is serious evidence that establishes that remaining in the position, function or public service allows the author of the fault to interfere in the investigation process.”
If this measure, unprecedented in the country, were to materialize, Petro, who is visiting New York, where he is speaking today at the UN Security Council, would be the first president of Colombia to be suspended from office, a power that only the Senate has and not the House’s Investigation and Accusation Committee.
Petro has been denounced several times for alleged participation in politics during the campaign for the elections in which his successor will be chosen in the second round on June 21, and on May 26 the Investigation and Accusation Commission of the Chamber opened an investigation against him. Arizabaleta stated that he decided to suspend the president because political intervention is classified as “a very serious offense” and “because of the hierarchy of the person subject to disciplinary action and the significance of the alleged offense.”
The representative also warned that there is no appeal against the decision. The second round will be contested on June 21 between the far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella , from the Defenders of the Homeland movement, who on May 31 was the most voted in the first round, with 10.3 million votes (43.78%), and Senator Iván Cepeda , from the Historical Pact, who obtained 9.7 million (40.98%).
