BOGOTA, June 27, 2008 (AFP) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has asked Congress to immediately schedule an early presidential vote after a court questioned the legality of the law that let him seek re-election in 2006.

"I am going to convene Congress so that it can produce as swiftly as possible legislation on a referendum, that would call the people to repeat the 2006 presidential election," Uribe said Thursday in a nationally broadcast radio and television address just before midnight.

His call came hours after the Supreme Court ordered a review of the law that allowed US ally Uribe to seek re-election in 2006, following the conviction of a lawmaker who confessed that she was bribed by the conservative government to vote for the measure.

"What is happening is really worrisome. The news is quite serious, the president is taking a confrontational attitude with the high court," charged Cecilia Lopez, spokeswoman for the opposition Liberals in the Senate.

"The government is acting rashly and trying to provoke a constitutional crisis," she said.

Uribe, the US government's closest major ally in Latin America, said in his address the high court was trying to pressure his government, pick and choose where it applies justice and erode executive branch powers with its rulings.

"This high court's justices have lent themselves to a power (struggle) which seems not to have a legal solution," Uribe said.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Constitutional Court -- which is in charge of reviewing laws -- and the prosecutor's office -- which handles criminal prosecution of government officials -- should investigate how legislation was passed that made it possible for Uribe to seek immediate re-election, though it had been barred by the constitution.

Previous to the Uribe-led reform, a candidate could only stand for non-consecutive presidential terms in Colombia.

"The ... constitutional reform's approval was an expression of clear and manifest overstepping of power," the high court magistrates said in their ruling.

The new Interior and Justice Minister, Fabio Valencia, told AFP the government had not been notified officially by the court, and therefore withheld comment.

Ex-lawmaker Yidis Medina was sentenced to 47 months in jail for accepting job offers from government officials in exchange for her vote in favor of the reform allowing re-election.

Medina has charged that Uribe was aware of the bribes; the president and his ministers have denied any wrongdoing.

But the votes of two legislators, Medina and Teodolindo Avendano -- now also jailed -- pushed the pro re-election reform through and got it passed. Once it was approved, Uribe won re-election by a wide margin in May 2006 with 62 percent of the vote.

Pedro Medellin, an analyst at National University in Bogota, said Uribe's move was that of "a president who knows he is very popular and who today launched himself into a campaign he is able to win, and of justices who would like to stop (Uribe) from adjusting the constitution to his liking with an eye toward a third term."

Uribe's conservative government has struggled to make headway in its fight against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Latin America's longest-running insurgency. But his tough line against insurgents helped bolster his popularity and was key to his re-election.

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