Petro's son claims illegal funding in presidential campaign; now what?

COLOMBIA - In Brief 04 Aug 2023 by Andrés Escobar Arango

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Yesterday, in Nicolás Petro's (NP) trial, the prosecutor said that NP claims that illegal funding reached his father Gustavo Petro's presidential campaign.Could this process end up in Petro's being removed from office?We are not constitutional lawyers, but after doing some consultation, the next steps of a hypothetical process would be the following:1. The National Electoral Council (NEC) has to determine whether illegal funds did reach Gustavo Petro's campaign; this might take a while...2. Assuming the NEC determines illegal funding reached the campaign, then a process in Congress could start; some people say it could start right now, but the verdict of the NEC seems to be a reasonable political prerequisite.3. The process in Congress starts with the Accusations Committee of the House, in charge of gathering evidence against the president.4. If the Accusations Committee, through a 50%+1 vote, considers the evidence to be sufficient to recommend prosecuting the president, the process moves on to the floor of the House.5. If the floor of the House, through a 50%+1 vote, considers the evidence warrants it, it could formally accuse the president; the process would then move to the Senate.6. The Senate acts as the judge in this process; in order for the floor of the Senate to sack the president, a 2/3 majority is required. In the highly unlikely event we reach Step 6 (everything boils down to the proofs NP delivers), which could take more than a year, and the president is permanently removed from office, two scenarios open up, depending on what happens with Vice President Francia Márquez:- Scenario 1: Vice President Márquez keeps her job. In this case, she becomes the new ...