Ecuador judge rejects lawmakers' request for injunction over firing

QUITO, Ecuador: An Ecuadorean judge on Friday rejected a request to block a court ruling that ousted more than half of the politically unstable nation's lawmakers last week.
Ecuador's top electoral tribunal has fired 57 of the 100 members of Congress, accusing them of interfering in a referendum to redraw the constitution. The decision came after the lawmakers ordered impeachment proceedings against tribunal members who backed the referendum.
The lawmakers asked that the court block their firing, but on Friday judge Victor Mendoza ruled that the electoral tribunal's ruling must be respected.
Mendoza made the ruling in Rocafuerte, 230 kilometers (145 miles) southwest of the capital, Quito, where protesters on Thursday attacked the ousted lawmakers seeking the injunction, throwing rocks and punching them. At least seven people were injured, police said.
Congress approved the referendum plan last month with the caveat that if approved, the special assembly called to retool the charter would not be able to close the legislature.
But the country's new leftist President Rafael Correa later overruled that stipulation, saying the assembly would have ultimate power — and setting off a constitutional crisis.
Correa, who took office Jan. 15, has advocated a new charter that limits the power of the traditional political parties, which he blames for the nation's corruption and political instability. He is the country's eighth president in a decade.