next August 7, President Ivan Duque He will hand over his position to the candidate who obtains the most votes in the 2022 presidential elections.
It is worth remembering that this day will be the May 29. If a second round is necessary, it will be held in June.
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A question that has come to light in the midst of the presidential campaign is whether the former presidents of the Republic are paid something for having held office. The answer is yes: they receive a life pension, although they must meet some requirements.
This is established in article 2 of Law 48 of 1962: “Every former President of the Republic shall be entitled to enjoy a lifetime pension or old-age pension, equal to 75% of his last monthly salary, if he has been in the service of the State for 20 continuous or discontinuous years and if he has reached 50 years of age.”,
Currently, the former presidents Juan Manuel Santos, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Ernesto Samper, Andrés Pastrana and César Gaviria have this pension, as well as the widows of several deceased former presidents.
The current president is 45 years old, so he still needs to meet one of the requirements: reach 50 years old.
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Regarding his work in the service of the State, it must be said that Duque, before becoming president, developed a career in the public sector as advisor to the Ministry of Finance in the government of Juan Manuel Santos and also in that of Álvaro Uribe Vélez. And in the year 2014 joined the legislature as an elected senator for the Democratic Center party.
Later, in 2018, after beating the Human Colombia candidate, Gustavo Petro, at the polls, Iván Duque was elected as President of the Republic.
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So, in short, the current head of state would have the time required by law to have the life pension.
“The pension of the former presidents of the Republic will be equivalent to the monthly allowance that for all concepts corresponds to senators and representatives.”, states article 3 of Law 48 of 1962.
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In other words, if Duque currently accesses his pension, the value would be around 34,417,000 pesos, figure that corresponds to the salary of a congressman of the Republic and is the one received by current former presidents.
In that sense, whoever triumphs in this year’s presidential elections will also have a lifetime pension once their term ends.
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