BOGOTA (Reuters) - A top Colombian judge has recommended that the country's highest court reject a proposal to allow President Alvaro Uribe to seek re-election in May, local media reported on Thursday.
The judge's report cast new doubt on the political future of Uribe, a key Washington ally popular at home for his U.S.-backed security drive against leftist rebels and with Wall Street for his pro-investment policies.
Citing court sources, local newspapers and radio reported Constitutional Court Judge Humberto Sierra had recommended in a confidential paper that his fellow magistrates rule against the re-election proposal due to legal irregularities.
Colombia's peso opened trading down 0.56 percent, following regional currencies pressured by the stronger dollar but also due to uncertainty generated by the judge's report.
"I think there are people who are nervous and who are taking defensive positions with this news, so we could see a sell-off of local TES bonds and buying of dollars," Camilo Perez, director of investigations at Banco de Bogota.
Constitutional court judges must still make their final ruling on a referendum that would amend the law and allow Uribe to run for a third term. His eight years in power have been marked by successes in the country's long guerrilla conflict.
Sierra's report is a non-binding recommendation and the judges still have up to two months to make their official ruling. But the recommendation could lend weight to those arguing against allowing Uribe a third consecutive term.
Uribe has yet to say whether he will even run and candidates are already jockeying for position. But any successor would likely stick broadly to Uribe's security and pro-investment policies.
(Reporting by Patrick Markey and Nelson Bocanegra, editing by Alan Elsner)
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