During his administration as mayor, Petro faced a recall process started by opposition parties and supported by the signatures of more than 600,000 citizens. After the legal verification, 357,250 signatures were validated,[45] many more than legally required to start the process.[46][47] On 9 December 2013, he was removed from his seat and banned from political activity for 15 years,[48] by Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado, following the sanctions stipulated by the law. His sanction was allegedly caused by mismanagement and illegal decrees signed during the implementation of his waste collection system.[49] This led to a protest which deemed the Inspector's move as controversial, politically biased and undemocratic.[50][51]