El Referendo constitucional en Colombia:

un mecanismo de difícil utilización en los años 2008 al 2011

Abstract

The possibility for citizens to participate in the project approval or repeal of a rule of law or of an already existing and the creation of a municipality or segregation, on the repeal of a constitutional amendment or a project submitted for approval of constitutional reform is through citizen participation mechanism called referendum, which is enshrined in the Constitution of Colombia. This mechanism was regulated and defined by Act 134 of 1994, Article 3: lt is the call that makes the people to approve or reject a proposed legal rule or repeal a rule or no longer valid.

In Colombia, hove confirmad three types of referendum: the referendum repealing the approval referendum and the constitutional referendum, which the initiative of the Government or of a group of citizens not less than 5% of the electorate, the Congress, by law which requires the approval of a majority of members of both Houses may refer to referendum a constitutional reform bill that Congress itself incorporated into the law. The referendum will be presentad so that voters can choose freely in the articulated agenda or voting and voting positively negatively.

Approval of amendments to the constitution by referendum requires the affirmative vote of more than half of the voters and that their number exceeds a quarter of all citizens who make up the electoral roll.

In the period 2008- 2011, were registered with the Registrar three referendums: the reelection referendum, the referendum by the water, which seeks to enshrine the public drinking water, and the referendum of life imprisonment for rapists and child molesters, which seeks reform in this regard, Article 34 of the Constitution.