MONTECRISTI, Ecuador: President Rafael Correa said Wednesday that he will hand in his resignation to the closely allied assembly elected to rewrite Ecuador's constitution, a move seen as a largely symbolic gesture.
Correa's political party controls more than 60 percent of the assembly, which meets for the first time Thursday to rewrite the constitution of this politically unstable Andean nation.
"I will present my resignation so the assembly ... can decide whether to send me home or keep me in power," said Correa during a news conference. He plans to tender his resignation on Friday. His Cabinet members are expected to follow suit.
The 44-year-old former economy minister says the new constitution is necessary to reduce the power of traditional political parties he blames for the country's problems.
He is expected to call for the closing of Congress and to have it replaced with a parliamentary commission until a legislature is elected under the new constitution.
Correa, Ecuador's eighth president in the last decade, also wants to have the president be allowed to run for two consecutive four-year terms, but he denies that he seeks to stay in power indefinitely. The president is not currently allowed to run for immediate re-election.
Correa is a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an ardent critic of Washington who is seeking extensive changes to his own country's constitution.
On Sunday, Venezuelans will vote on 69 amendments that would allow Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely.
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