Ecuador will have Constitutional Assembly Referendum

By April Howard, Feb 14, 2007

UpsideDownWorld

Ecuadorean congress has passed the motion made by President Rafael Correa to hold a referendum to consider constitutional reform. If the referendum is passed, it will create a national assembly to rewrite the constitution.

A constitutional assembly is a special legislative body in which citizens join congress people to write a new constitution. Venezuela held such an assembly after Chavez's 1999 election and an assembly in Bolivia has been deadlocked with political in-fighting since August 6. The referendum is planned for April 15, and, if passed, elections will be held for representatives to the assembly. The 130 members of the assembly are then expected to legislate for 180 days with a possible 30-day extension.

Correa, inaugurated in January, says that the reforms could curb the power of traditional parties. Thousands of demonstrators protested outside the congress while the vote was taking place. The motion passed the 100-seat Congress 57-1. A majority of opposition members walked out, but the motion was passed by an agreement between pro-government congress people and a minority opposition party. Although it is unclear what administrative body would organize the referendum, opinion polls suggest about 70% would vote in favour of the national assembly.

According to Reuters, Correa has rattled Wall Street and Washington with pledges to restructure debt and end a lease allowing the US military to use an air base, and by creating alliances with White House enemy Hugo Chavez.

Opposition lawmakers fear that granting a Constitutional Assembly broad powers will consolidate Correa's presidential powers and create instability. "Today the constitution has been broken," said opposition congressman Federico Perez. "I really hope our country doesn't fall in to communism."

However, many Ecuadorians see the matter differently. CONAIE president (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador) Luis Macas said the Constituent Assembly will be the will of the people wishing to transform the country.

Ecuador Congress backs Correa's referendum plan

February 14, 2007
Javno

Leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa won a victory on Tuesday when Congress approved his request for a referendum on whether to hold a popular assembly to rewrite the politically unstable country's constitution.

Opposition lawmakers had been hostile to the referendum plan but Correa, a political outsider popular for promising to curb the influence of traditional parties, finally won majority backing after several weeks of negotiations.

Ecuador's top election tribunal later set April 15 as the date for the referendum, a court official told local radio.

The approval came less than two weeks after hundreds of Correa supporters stormed Congress, battled police on the streets and forced lawmakers to evacuate the building to demand the referendum be approved.

Dozens of opposition lawmakers walked out in protest on Tuesday after demanding broad changes to the plan, but the legislature made only minor rewrites.

Correa's movement has no formal representatives in Congress, but the former economy minister appeals to the public with his vows for a "citizens revolution" in a country where instability has toppled three presidents in a decade.

"This is a victory for the people," Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea told reporters after the decision.

Larrea said the government sees no significant changes in Congress-approved reforms to the referendum plan.

Elected in November, Correa has rattled Wall Street and Washington with pledges to restructure debt and end a lease allowing the U.S. military to use an air base and by fostering ties with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a White House foe.

Ecuador also delayed the coupon payment on its global 2030 bonds that was due on Thursday. Wall Street experts had said they expected such an action as a way for Correa to please his leftist supporters.

MORE TURMOIL?

Political analysts said the referendum approval could provoke more turmoil as government sympathizers turned to street protests to pressure opposition lawmakers.

"This is a victory for Correa ... he was able to twist the arm of Congress, but the effect of his assembly will be unpredictable," said Simon Pachano at Ecuador's branch of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences.

The constitutional assembly is a special legislative body, where citizens join lawmakers to draft a new constitution. Venezuela held one after Chavez's 1999 election and an assembly in Bolivia has been deadlocked over political in-fighting.

Ecuador's 130-member assembly is expected to legislate for 180 days with a possible 30-day extension.

Opposition lawmakers said they fear that granting a Constitutional Assembly broad powers will help consolidate Correa's presidential powers and usher in more instability.

"Today the constitution has been broken," said opposition congressman Federico Perez. "I really hope our country doesn't fall in to communism."

Correa says constitutional reforms are needed to limit the influence of political elites on institutions such as the Supreme Court and the electoral authority.

More than three-quarters of Ecuadoreans support Correa's referendum proposal, a survey by local pollster Cedatos Gallup showed in January.

Ecuador's Police Repel Protesters Storming Congress

By Matthew Walter and Bill Faries

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuadorean police used tear gas to repel a crowd that tried to storm congress to demand lawmakers approve President Rafael Correa's plan for a national assembly to rewrite the nation's constitution.

Police turned back the protesters after they entered the building, then launched tear gas at a crowd waving banners and political flags outside the former central bank building, where congress meets, television station Cablenoticias showed. Inside, lawmakers had been debating whether to hold a referendum on rewriting the constitution.

``We wanted to make a symbolic occupation of Congress to show that the space is ours and the constitutional assembly should be there,'' said Vladimir Paguaj, 27, a law student holding the red flag of Ecuador's Communist Party. ``We want a Bolivarian socialist country integrated with all of Latin America,'' Paguaj added, using a term favored by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

Correa, who took office Jan. 15, campaigned on a promise to hold a national referendum on whether Ecuador should draft a new constitution to implement socialist economic and political policies. In a speech last weekend, he rebuked congress and the country's national electoral court for not supporting a national vote on the constitutional assembly, saying that Ecuadoreans should be given the right to decide.

``As of now congress has suspended its session,'' said Edison Guevara Estrella, a congressional spokesman, in a phone interview. Elsewhere demonstrators marched down Quito's Rio Amazonas Avenue, one of the city's main thoroughfares, blocking southbound traffic.

Few Allies

About 5,000 people participated in today's march, and 487 police responded, Colonel Edgar Roy Pino, commander of the metropolitan district police, said. The communications office of the national police said that as of 1:30 p.m. New York time, three policemen and one journalist had been injured, and one demonstrator had been arrested. Protestors threw eggs and stones at the police, who responded with tear gas, he said in an interview outside the central bank building in Quito.

Correa, 43, a U.S.-trained economist who served a five- month stint as finance minister in 2005, won 57 percent of the vote in a Nov. 26 run-off election. Without the backing of an established political party, the new president has few allies in Congress to carry out his proposals.

``Correa will have to decide between negotiating with Congress or pressing his demands through social action,'' said Mark Schneider, vice president of the International Crisis Group, a policy research organization in Washington, DC.

`Political Upheaval'

Correa's push for a constitutional assembly resembles steps taken by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who helped rewrite his country's constitution after he took office in 1999. Chavez attended Correa's Jan. 15 inauguration, along with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega.

Ecuador has had eight presidents in ten years and 68 percent of the country's 13.3 million citizens live in poverty, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Correa has said he may default on part of the country's $11 billion in debt to increase government spending on social programs.

``Ecuador has gone through an enormous amount of instability and political upheaval,'' Schneider said. ``The country has vast needs that will require collaboration on all sides,'' he added.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Walter in Quito at mwalter4@bloomberg.net ; Bill Faries in New York at wfaries@bloomberg.net .