Friday, December 19, 2008

Verbal inflection of a pluperfect participle

Yep, that's how crazy the debate in Colombia has become over the wording of the petition to allow for a third presidential term. The question revolves around the words "has held" to determine whether it means Uribe can run again immediately in 2010 or must wait out one term and try again in 2014. Some argue that to "have held" an office, you must finish the current term before running again, which means he could not run until after this term was already over.

As I mentioned yesterday, this is the type of politicized wrangling that Uribe doesn't want. He wanted to sweep right in without having to fight for it.

2 comments:

boz 8:06 AM  

That wording also means he could resign in order to run (I believe most Colombian politicians who want to run for president resign their current post). However, I don't think that's Uribe's style.

Greg Weeks 8:21 AM  

Interesting thought, but it would signal desperation for that next term, thus dispelling the image he's been trying to cultivate.

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