On Wednesday, September 3, Congress elected Carlos Camargo Assis as the new magistrate of the Constitutional Court, who will replace José Fernando Reyes Cuartas, whose eight-year term at the head of the high court ends this month.

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Camargo beat María Patricia Balanta Medina and Jaime Humberto Tobar Ordóñez in the vote.

Prior to the vote, some business leaders asked Congress to make the decision completely independent, asserting that institutional balance depends on this process.

(See: If the tax reform is approved, monetary poverty in Colombia would grow).

"The Senate will face one of the most important decisions of this moment: electing the new Constitutional Court justice. This election is not just another formality: preserving institutional balance and the validity of our democracy depends on it. The country expects its senators to vote independently, responsibly, and with the country in mind before particular interests. Colombia deserves a strong, autonomous Constitutional Court committed to the Constitution,"said María Claudia Lacouture, president of the Colombian-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham Colombia), earlier.

For his part, Gustavo Morales, president of Fasecolda, pointed out that Colombia needs a good Constitutional Court.

"A Court made up of judges who know the Constitution, who know the science and art of administering justice, who know how to manage large offices with complex workloads."

He added that"the magistrate who will be elected will coincide with Petro's term for a few months, and then will coincide with the entirety of the next president and a good part of the subsequent one. Therefore, the discussion about whether or not they are close to the current government is irrelevant."

"99% of the issues the Court resolves have nothing to do with the government in power. They have to do with old laws, pensioner cases, children in school cases, family issues. The Constitution lives there. Another reason to remove the Petro/no Petro issue from the debate," said Morales.

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The union leader also emphasized that the Court's continued solidity is the priority now.

The business leaders' call for the Senate to maintain its independent voting system was in response to allegations that the government exerted undue pressure in the selection of the Supreme Court's new justice.

Carlos Camargo Assis, originally from Cereté (Córdoba), is a lawyer with a master's degree and doctorate in law from Sergio Arboleda University, where he also taught. He has served as Ombudsman and as a judge on the National Electoral Council (CNE).