Ecuador Congress replaces lawmakers, convenes

By Alexandra Valencia
QUITO, March 20 (Reuters) - Ecuador's Congress replaced fired lawmakers and convened on Tuesday in an apparent victory for President Rafael Correa over opposition legislators resisting his plans to curb their influence.
Correa, a left-winger elected in November, has been locked in a power struggle with lawmakers since March 7, when a court sacked 57 of them from the 100-member chamber for obstructing his plans for a referendum on rewriting the constitution.
The fired lawmakers had said they would seek to take their seats in the building, which was ringed by hundreds of police wielding batons to prevent a repeat of last week's clashes when opposition members tried to force their way inside.
But Congress President Jorge Cevallos on Tuesday swore in 21 substitutes and allowed the legislature to hold a session without the fired lawmakers.
"We will obey the will of the people," substitute lawmaker Cesar Alonso said. Congress needs at least 51 lawmakers to hold a session and 55 were present.
Correa was monitoring developments and "hopes that Congress will start working in line with the people's demands," a government spokeswoman said.
Elected in November, Correa is popular for promising to sweep away the influence of traditional political parties whom many Ecuadoreans blame for the instability that has ousted three presidents in the last decade. He wants an April 15 vote on holding a popular assembly to rewrite the constitution.
With his strongest opponents now out of Congress, Correa should be able to push ahead with his political proposals and key economic reforms, experts said.
"This is an evident victory for Correa... the opposition has lost a lot of power," said Simon Pachano, analyst with Ecuador's branch of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences. "The government also probably has struck a deal with the substitutes."
Correas opponents fear the U.S.-trained economist and former finance minister will seek to rewrite the constitution to strengthen presidential powers as his left-wing ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, did after his 1998 election.
Wall Street has been monitoring Ecuador's political developments closely after Correa promised to use his mandate to restructure bonds and rewrite foreign oil contracts in South America's fifth-largest crude producer.

Ecuador ends Congress stalemate

BBC, March 20, 2007.
Ecuador's Congress has held a session after 21 substitute members were sworn in to replace 57 sacked legislators.

They were unseated for trying to block a referendum on constitutional changes that President Rafael Correa wants.

The substitutes mean Congress now has a quorum and can meet - a small victory for the president, say correspondents.

More than 1,000 police officers surrounded the Congress building in Quito to prevent the sacked legislators from trying to disrupt the session.

The BBC's South America correspondent, Daniel Schweimler, says the 21 substitute congressmen and women were smuggled into the building at dawn.

Power struggle

Some of the 57 sacked legislators had promised to force their way in to claim their seats.

They were unseated by an electoral tribunal on 7 March for trying to block a referendum on constitutional reform proposed by President Correa and now set for 15 April.

The Congress had been in recess for two weeks as a resolution was sought to the stalemate.

Mr Correa has been embroiled in a bitter conflict with the opposition Congress since he took power in January.

A government spokesman said that Mr Correa "hopes that Congress will start working in line with people's demands".

The president is a leftist who enjoys little congressional support. He has argued that Congress is corrupt and the cause of many of the country's problems.

He wants the people to have a greater say and is organising a referendum next month as the first step in setting up a series of assemblies that would by-pass the power of the Congress.

The established politicians, not surprisingly, do not want to relinquish power and are fighting back, says our correspondent.

The dispute is threatening to provoke more turmoil in a country that has had eight presidents in the past 10 years.

Congress needs to have at least 51 members present to have a quorum.

With the 21 substitutes, 55 were present at Tuesday's session.

Mr Correa came to power two months ago promising radical changes. He enjoys the support of about 70% of the people of Ecuador but most of the power and influence lies in the hands of his opponents, our correspondent says.

Correa's radical plans spark battle in Ecuador

Duroyan Fertl, 16 March 2007
Green Left Weekly
The small Andean nation of Ecuador is facing a political crisis as the Congress and the courts turn on each other over new president Rafael Correa’s plans for a Constituent Assembly and a “citizens’ revolution” to build “21st century socialism” in the poverty-stricken country.
Correa, a self-described socialist and close ally of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, was elected late last year promising to redirect Ecuador’s oil wealth into social spending, increase popular democracy and limit the power of the traditional political parties. Central to this platform is convoking a popular Constituent Assembly to rewrite Ecuador’s constitution.
In February the 100-member Congress, which is controlled by parties hostile to Correa and his policies, passed a bill allowing a referendum on the assembly after the opposition Patriotic Society Party (PSP) of former president Lucio Gutierrez voted in favour. However there was an immediate dispute over the power that the assembly will have, Correa arguing for a plenary power enabling it to dismiss not only the Congress and courts, but also the president.
While the Congress disagreed, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) endorsed Correa’s statements and announced on March 1 that the referendum would be held on April 15. In response, a majority of Congress, including the PSP, voted to sack the president of the TSE. The court immediately fired back, sacking the 57 members of Congress responsible and setting up a police cordon to prevent the sacked members from entering.
The Constitutional Tribunal has refused to rule on an appeal by the fired lawmakers until Congress endorses it. Congress, however, is unable to convene, as it can’t achieve the required quorum of 51 legislators.
On March 13, 20 legislators broke through police lines and entered the Congress before being removed by riot police using tear gas. Correa blamed the ousted members of Congress for the violence, saying, “These people want to create chaos because they know they’re already out”.
The ousted legislators, made up of members of parties with close ties to Ecuador’s financial oligarchy, have threatened to set up a rival congress in Guayaquil, the country’s second major city and base of the right-wing Social Christian Party.
The Constitutional Tribunal has also warned Correa to obey its forthcoming ruling on the validity of the referendum, but Correa disputes the court’s power to rule on the matter, and has threatened to call mass protests to ensure that the assembly goes ahead.
Humberto Cholango from ECUARUNARI, one of the organisations representing Ecuador’s approximately 40% indigenous population, has also called for a massive mobilisation of all the indigenous and social movements of the country to defend the assembly.
If the referendum is successful, it will allow the election of 130 people who will have four months to rewrite the constitution. A recent poll shows that only 17% of Ecuadorians are satisfied with the Congress, which is regarded as corrupt, while over 75% support the Constituent Assembly.

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.

Referendum Backed By 30,000 Ecuadoreans

Quito, Mar 16 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa welcomed on Friday the participation of 30,000 people in the Guayaquil march to support the referendum on the Constituent Assembly, and questioned media coverage of the event.
"With their customary arrogance and disdain, elites do not want to recognize that there were 30,000 Ecuadoreans in the march of Guayaquil, southeast of the capital," Correa stressed.
At the inauguration of the Civical Square of the Ministry of Education, during which homage was paid to late minister Guadalupe Larriva, Correa said his gathering was 15 times larger than municipality mayor Jaime Nebot"s.
He questioned local media, which only covered the 2,000-strong protest led by Nebot, whom he criticized for his exclusive, discriminatory speech.
The president warned that he is "leading a government of change, a revolution of the people, and there is resistance by elites and mafias, which are losing their power and trying to thwart this process by all means."

Ecuadorians Support Referendum

Quito, Mar 16 (Prensa Latina) Massive demonstrations Friday in Ecuador confirm continuing popular support for the national consultation on April 15 and the Constituent Assembly.
Demonstrators in Quito and Guayaquil supported holding the referendum, and rejected actions by 57 former legislators to recover their seats, after the Electoral Supreme Court (TSE) dismissed them for trying to hinder the national consultation.
Students also rallied in front of Congress Thursday, with slogans against the deputies.
In Guayaquil, thousands of persons condemned the former lawmakers, and urged Congress President Jorge Cevallos to resume sessions with the substitutes and deputies of minority groups.
Amid that context, protesters prevented several of the dismissed deputies from entering a hearing analyzing an appeal to make the sanction unlawful.
Meanwhile, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa stressed the complex situation will be over when Congress restarts its sessions, and affirmed the 57 legislators should resign in a dignified manner.
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Dismissed congressmen injured by stone-throwing demonstrators in Ecuador

People's Daily Online, March 15, 2007.
Two former Ecuadorian lawmakers Thursday were injured by stones thrown by demonstrators, intensifying a battle between legislators and the nation's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).
Gloria Gallardo and Silka Sanchez are two of the 57 opposition members ousted from the 100-strong Congress by the TSE last Wednesday for blocking proposals for a referendum on President Rafael Correa's planned constitutional reforms.
Sanchez and Gallardo are members of the Renewing National Institutional Action Party (Prian), whose candidate, multi-millionaire Alvaro Noboa, lost the presidential election to Correa last year.
The demonstrators also smashed the windows of their cars and damaged equipment belonging to a local television crew before police dispersed them with tear gas.
Ecuador's two main cities, Quito, the capital, and Guayaquil, the largest city, have witnessed marches supporting Correa's Constituent Assembly, a proposed body sought by the president to rewrite the nation's constitution.
Elsewhere Thursday, Federico Perez, a dismissed congressman from the Prian party, formally resigned from his post in the government, saying that he is unsatisfied with both the opposition and government, and would never return to politics.
The TSE is also meeting over possible punishment for a judge in the coastal province of Manabi, who supported a motion granting a reprieve to the sacked deputies.
On Wednesday, Correa announced he would study the possibility of calling an extraordinary session to swear in substitutes for the 57 sacked deputies, without whom the Congress does not have the quorum to make decisions.
Jaime Velasco, president of Ecuadorian Supreme Court, called for negotiations to solve the crisis.

20 Fired Ecuadorean Lawmakers Take Seats

Wednesday March 14, 2007

By GONZALO SOLANO

QUITO, Ecuador (AP via The Guardian) - Some 20 lawmakers fired last week by Ecuador's top electoral court for allegedly interfering with plans for a constitutional referendum forced their way past dozens of police guarding Congress and took up their seats on Tuesday.

``We are in a dictatorship!'' shouted one of the dismissed legislators, opposition Congresswoman Gloria Gallardo, who made her way into the chamber through riot police and tear gas.

At least two members of Congress and three other people were injured in the incident, which also prompted rival executive and legislative police forces to scuffle with each other.

The new leftist president, Rafael Correa, blamed the violence on the ousted lawmakers.

``We are peaceful people. We will keep public order,'' he told Radio Vision. ``These people want to create chaos because they know they're already out.''

The executive, legislative and judicial branches of government are all grappling for power in this politically unstable Andean nation, accusing each other of violating the constitution and trying to assert their supremacy.

Correa, an admirer of Venezuela's firebrand leader Hugo Chavez, has vowed to revamp the country's political system since taking office in January. He is determined to hold an April 15 referendum on whether Ecuador should throw out its constitution and write a new charter limiting the power of the traditional political parties he blames for corruption and political instability.

Ecuador's eighth president in 10 years, Correa says he won't respect any decision by Congress or the courts to block the referendum. If approved, Ecuador would have five months to elect 130 members of a special assembly that would begin rewriting the constitution next fall.

Congress approved the referendum plan with the caveat that the assembly would not be able to close the legislature. Correa later overruled that stipulation, saying the assembly would have ultimate power and setting off the constitutional crisis.

The country's top electoral court, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, which approved Correa's plan, fired 57 congressmen from the 100-seat unicameral legislature last week after they ordered impeachment proceedings against the court's majority.

The fired president of Congress, Jorge Cevallos, then turned to Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal, which refused Tuesday to review his complaints until a majority of Congress members sign the appeal. Since the electoral court fired the lawmakers, Congress has lacked a quorum of members to convene a formal session.

Congresswoman Sylka Sanchez, one of the fired legislators who pushed past police Tuesday, said they had acted ``to prevent a dictatorship. We don't want dictatorship. We want democracy.''

Constitutional experts have said both the lawmakers and the court were violating the country's charter - not an uncommon occurrence in Ecuador, where Congress has illegally dismissed three elected presidents in the last decade after they lost popularity.

Ecuador: Will the Civil Crisis Remain Civil?

Stratfor, March 13, 2007

Summary

Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal on March 13 declined to decide whether to reinstate 57 legislators dismissed March 7 by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. This leaves the country with an unresolved crisis regarding legitimate authority -- a situation in which the military could intervene.

Analysis

Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal on March 13 declined to decide on the reinstatement of 57 legislators dismissed six days earlier by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. The constitutional court realized that without President Rafael Correa's support, its decision would not matter except as a possible trigger for massive protests. The court announced that the motion filed lacked the required signatures from a congressional majority, but that it could be considered if it is refiled with the signatures.

If the Constitutional Tribunal had ruled on reinstating the 57 legislators, the result could have been chaos on the streets. There would be large demonstrations, led in part by the indigenous groups of the highlands, echoing Correa's demand that the ruling be ignored. Traditionally, at such inflection points in Ecuadorian politics, the military steps in. Since those demonstrations did not materialize, however, the military is waiting to see whether the ongoing crisis reaches a boiling point.

The situation began March 7, when Ecuador's Supreme Electoral Tribunal fired 57 of the 100 members of the country's unicameral Congress, based on allegations of interfering with a constitutional referendum after those 57 attempted to dismiss a majority of the tribunal's members. Correa announced March 8 that if the constitutional court were to reinstate the legislators, he would consider the ruling invalid and call for a popular uprising against the decision. In other words, Correa is de facto dismissing the judicial and legislative branches of Ecuador's government and making himself the sole authority. Strengthened by widespread public support (though it dropped from the 70 percent range in January to around 65 percent in early March, according to polling firm Cedatos/Gallup), Correa has decided to descend the slippery slope from populist to authoritarian.

Ecuador has seen its share of coups, with the military sometimes supporting the sitting president and sometimes overthrowing him, but usually acting decisively either way "for the good of the country." This case is a tricky one for the military, however. Correa is clearly dismantling the government's checks and balances and alienating the country's commercial class. On the other hand, he is very popular. It is not clear whether the military could control the public backlash that would occur if it tried to overthrow Correa, and it probably does not have the stomach to try at this point.

The military appears to have a cordial relationship with Correa thus far -- Correa has even approved military pay raises -- and is not likely to rock the boat. However, if the opposition is able to gather strength, the military will have to make tough decisions.

Many of the deposed congressmen gathered March 13 at a Marriott hotel in Ecuador. Several supported an announcement by Gloria Gallardo, a dismissed legislator from the opposition Institutional Renewal Party of National Action, who said that democracy in Ecuador is dead and Correa has become a dictator. Furthermore, Pedro Almeida of the Patriotic Society Party called for an extraordinary Congress to meet in Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, located in the west coast lowlands where the opposition movement is based. If opposition political parties and businessmen can create a well-organized grassroots movement to support the deposed legislators' reinstatement, popular unrest could become significant.

Any such organized opposition would shrink Correa's window of opportunity for attempting to restore a semblance of legitimacy to his decisions by getting Congress to function again. Correa would do this by replacing some of the dismissed congressmen with preselected alternates loyal to him. Even if Correa's popularity holds above the 60 percent mark -- which is likely -- the country is now dangerously divided by competing claims to legitimate authority. Leading up to Ecuador's April 15 referendum on the formation of a constitutional assembly, the military could face increasing pressure to intervene before, after, or during the outbreak of violent demonstrations regarding the dismissed legislators.

The least stable -- and almost certainly bloody -- outcome would be an attempt to oust Correa. The most stable outcome, and still the most likely, is that Correa will keep the military's support, suppress the opposition, continue his constitutional reform, and eventually restore a veneer of respectability to the other branches of government by repopulating Congress with his supporters and committing to honor all court decisions under the new constitution. Such a turn of events might help preserve domestic tranquility, but it would also push Correa further toward becoming an imitation of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Ecuador Rightwing Deputies Sow Chaos

Quito, Mar 13 (Prensa Latina) Ecuador s President Rafael Correa publicly accused 57 deputies, dismissed by the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) of sowing chaos in the country in an attempt to recover their congressional seats on Tuesday.

They will be held responsible for any violent act or incident during today s demonstrations in support of a referendum calling for a Constituent Assembly, Correa told press.

He warned that the legislators, taking advantage of the poverty of the people, have hired people in several provinces to sow violence in Quito.

"Those who support the Constituent Assembly are peaceful people, and we will take care of public order. However, these people [the dismissed deputies] want to generate chaos because they know they are already out," Correa said.

The Ecuadorean president called on "the proud, sovereign, honorable youth not to succumb to these provocations. Let us march, demonstrate absolutely peacefully, saying NO to violence," he added..

Ecuador Court Rules Deputies Stay Out

Quito, Mar 13 (Prensa Latina) In a surprise decision Tuesday, Ecuador s Constitutional Court refused to hear the petition for reinstatement by 57 deputies dismissed by the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE).

The request, presented by Congress leader Jorge Cevallos, enraged the right-wing legislators who had been dismissed by the TSE for attempting to obstruct the referendum on the Constituent Assembly.

According to judicial sources, the Assessment and Receipt Committee determined that, under the Constitution, Cevallos claim failed to fulfil the requisite of support by the majority in Congress.

Just before the decision, a group of dismissed legislators from PRIAN (Institutional Renovator) and Patriotic Society confronted the police and violently entered the congressional building, but Cevallos determined there was not a quorum and suspended today s session.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people have gathered outside the Legislature to guard it and demand expulsion of the dismissed legislators.

President of La Sierra Indigenous Nationalities Confederation, Humberto Cholango, warned that "if the dismissed deputies attempt to return to their seats, this movement and all the people will rise up," because the people are determined to have a Constituent Assembly, he concluded.

Ecuador Assembly, Tooth and Nail

Quito, Mar 12 (Prensa Latina) Ecuador will host this week national protests in defense of the Constituency Assembly and to stop conservative tactics to reinstate 57 legislators removed from office for obstructing a referendum to give that assemblage full power.

The protests will be held at several cities after President Rafael Correa called on the weekend to start a "peaceful resistance" to contend those opposing the Constituency Assembly.

The conservative parties in Congress are Renovador Institucional, Social Cristiano and Christian Democrat.

Movimiento Popular Democratico (MPD), along workers, students, Indigenous people and members of the government Alianza PAIS, announced protests in Guayaquil, south east the capital.

Cesar Rodriguez, regional coordinator for Alianza PAIS, said the protests start the campaign in favor of the referendum slated for April 15 in demand of an Assembly with full power.

Like Rodriguez, Humberto Cholango, leader of the Confederacion de Nacionalidades Indigenas de la Sierra (Ecuarunari), stressed the need to defend the Assembly to change the future of Ecuador.

Ecuador Tribunal Warns President

By GONZALO SOLANO 03.09.07

From Forbes

Ecuador's political crisis deepened Friday as the Constitutional Tribunal warned President Rafael Correa that he would be acting illegally if he ignores its upcoming ruling on the constitutionality of a national referendum.

Correa said Thursday night that he would not respect any ruling that opposed the referendum on whether to rewrite the country's constitution - one of several disputes that have set Ecuador's courts, Congress and president at one another's throats.

Correa supports the referendum and the creation of a special assembly to rewrite the constitution to limit the power of a political class he blames for Ecuador's problems of corruption and political instability. Correa is the country's eighth president in 10 years.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal this week fired 57 congressmen it accused of interfering with the referendum, which the lawmakers have called unconstitutional. The congressmen's interference consisted of calling for the impeachment of a majority of members of the Electoral Tribunal.

The separate Constitutional Tribunal is reviewing the measure's legality, but Correa said the court has no authority in the matter.

The court's president, Santiago Velasquez, warned Friday: "It is a crime when a citizen disregards a ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal."

Congress, which Correa has called "a sewer of corruption," approved the April 15 referendum last month, but stipulated that the 130-member assembly would not have the power to dismiss lawmakers and other officials elected in last year's elections.

But Correa disregarded the restrictions imposed by Congress, and the Electoral Tribunal approved his request that the assembly have unlimited powers to dismiss any elected official.

The seven-member electoral tribunal voted to oust the 57 congressmen after they signed a petition to start impeachment proceedings against the four court members who voted for Correa's version of the referendum.

Correa, 43, a U.S.-educated economist who took office Jan. 15, says says he wants to bring socialism to Ecuador. He ran as a political outsider and earned support from Ecuadoreans fed up with the political establishment.

A joint editorial published Friday on the front page of Ecuador's 10 most important newspapers criticized Correa for his confrontational style and urged him to respect "legal norms, seek national unity and not to arbitrarily interpret the constitution ... and especially not instigate division and clashes among Ecuadoreans."

Ecuador Clears Way for Assembly

Quito, Mar 9 (Prensa Latina) The People’s will triumphed in Ecuador over the “political mafia,” said Rafael Correa in a speech after removal of most of the Congress for interfering in a Constituent Assembly referendum.

Correa added that these groups were mistaken about the decision of the Ecuadorian people to seek transformations in the country.

“Noble people, proud people, sovereign people are winning over those who intended to dominate us and treat us like slaves. They believed that a popular government was going to submit to threats by the usual power elite,” the president stated.

The Electoral Court decided to remove 57 of the 100 hundred members of the single-chamber Congress for interfering in the call for a Constituent assembly referendum, mostly Institutional Renewal Party of National Action and other opposition parties.

This occurred after they had decided to substitute the president of the Electoral Court, Jorge Acosta, in reprisal for calling a referendum on April 15 over a Constituent Assembly with full powers to rewrite the constitution.

Chancellor Maria Espinosa rejected criticism of the decision recalling that the president had close to 90 percent support of the Ecuadorian people.

Correa warned that the popular consultation and the Constituent Assembly with full powers “are irreversible.”

Police barricade Congress, Ecuador leader claims triumph

jurnalo, 8 March 2007
With police barricading entrance to the legislature, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Thursday declared the triumph of "citizen government" over "political mafias" after the sacking of 57 legislators.

In a speech delivered from the balcony of the presidential palace in Quito, Correa said the "political mafias" made a mistake in the face of what he defined as the decision by citizens to aim for the transformation of Ecuador.

"Impostors are over. They have been defeated whatever they do," the president stressed before a group of supporters.

Ecuador's highest electoral court on Wednesday fired 57 opposition members of the 100-seat unicameral legislature for standing in the way of a referendum on rewriting the country's constitution - a move likely to provoke a constitutional crisis only three months into leftist Correa's tenure.

The move comes after the country's opposition-controlled Congress sought to fire the electoral tribunal's president for announcing the referendum would be held on April 15. Congress insisted it had to first approve the referendum.

Correa added that the referendum and the Constituent Assembly that he expects to result from it "are irreversible. " His government has indicated it supports the tribunal's move and would enforce the dismissals.

Some 300 police agents cordoned off Ecuador's unicameral Congress to bar entry to vehicles and people. Metal fences were erected around the building in the early hours, and the police presence grew by the hour.

A group of fired legislators were attacked Thursday by pro- government demonstrators as they met in a Quito hotel. A score of protestors damaged windows to enter the building, then physcially attacked the sacked lawmakers who suffered slight injuries.

The dispute surrounds a central campaign pledge of President Correa to drastically change the country's institutional make-up.

Correa fielded no legislative candidates in the November elections in the hope of making a clean sweep away from the highly unpopular Congress, which many regard as ineffective. But in so doing, he left opposition parties in the majority in parliament.

Ecuador's opposition refused to back Correa's call for a special assembly to rewrite the constitution, prompting Correa to request a referendum which was granted by the country's electoral authority without seeking the parliament's approval.

A recent opinion poll pointed out that only 17 per cent of Ecuadorians are satisfied with their Congress.

Ecuador police surround Congress to keep out lawmakers suspended by electoral tribunal

IHT, March 8, 2007

QUITO, Ecuador: Dozens of police officers surrounded Ecuador's Congress Thursday to prevent a majority of lawmakers from entering as the politically unstable Andean nation descended into a constitutional crisis.

The 57 congressmen were fired Wednesday by the same four electoral judges they are seeking to impeach. The judges accused the lawmakers of interfering with a referendum on whether to rewrite the constitution.

Ecuador's new leftist President Rafael Correa, an admirer of Venezuela's firebrand leader Hugo Chavez, sided with the court and was pressing ahead with the referendum, a step the congressmen have called illegal.

Correa wants a constitutional assembly to limit the power of a political class he blames for Ecuador's problems.

The seven-member tribunal voted to oust the congressmen after 57 members of the 100-seat unicameral Congress signed a petition to start impeachment proceedings against the four court members who approved the referendum.

"The impostors and phonies are finished. They've been defeated. No matter what they do, the referendum and the assembly are irreversible," Correa told his supporters from the balcony of the presidential palace Thursday.

But opposition congressman Carlos Larreategui said Thursday that all sides were to blame: "President Correa has violated the constitution, also Congress, also the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. No one respects the law,"

Congress was unable to convene Thursday because it needs a quorum of 51 lawmakers.

The fired congressmen met in a hotel and as they were leaving, a crowd of 50 protesters armed with clubs shouted insults.

Television images showed dozens of protesters punching and beating opposition congressman Osvaldo Flores with clubs. One protester was injured when another lawmaker hit him with a car as he tried to flee the angry crowd.

Gloria Gallardo, one of the lawmakers supposedly suspended, called the tribunal's actions "illegal and unconstitutional" and said the 57 lawmakers would continue in their posts.

"Congress is not a building. It's the legislators. Let this government know that the opposition is not a fragile opposition" like the one in Venezuela that allowed itself to be "smashed" by Chavez, she said.

Correa, who took office Jan. 15, says his proposed reforms aim to make elected officials more accountable.

Constitutional experts said both the lawmakers and the court were violating the country's charter — a common occurrence in this small Andean nation, where Congress has illegally dismissed three elected presidents in the last decade after they lost popularity. Correa is Ecuador's eighth president in 10 years.

"The constitutional framework has been broken," said legal analyst Pablo Guerrero, who argued that the election tribunal has the authority to dismiss public employees and appointees accused of interfering in an election process, but not elected officials.

The vague wording of Ecuador's constitutions has provoked clashes between presidents, lawmakers and the courts since democracy was restored in 1979 after a decade of dictatorship.

A separate Constitutional Tribunal might eventually resolve the new dispute, but its rulings have often been ignored in the past.

Correa has called Congress "a sewer of corruption." But 80 percent of the congressmen who took office in January are first-term lawmakers who say they should have a chance to show they are honest.

Correa, a U.S.-educated economist, ran as a political outsider, earning support from Ecuadoreans fed up with the political establishment.

Ecuadorean lawmakers in the past have engaged in fist fights, cut the cord of an opponent's microphone and hurled ashtrays. One pulled out a pistol and shot a colleague.

And in an episode captured on television, a drunken congressman who is now mayor of Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, staggered over to an opponent and tried to urinate on him.

___

Associated Press Writer Monte Hayes in Lima, Peru, contributed to the report

Ecuador election tribunal votes to fire 57 congressmen in showdown over constitution

IHT, March 7, 2007

QUITO, Ecuador: The country's highest electoral court voted to dismiss 57 congressmen for allegedly interfering with a referendum on whether to rewrite the constitution, in an escalating fight over Ecuador's charter.

It was unclear if the electoral tribunal has the authority to fire members of the 100-seat Congress; the issue might eventually be decided by a separate Constitutional Tribunal.

But Ecuador's new leftist President Rafael Correa said he would respect the decision and his government sent police on Thursday to keep the 57 lawmakers out of the Congress building.

Wednesday's court ruling was part of a clash over a constitutional assembly sought by Correa, who wants to limit the power of a political class he blames for the impoverished nation's problems.

Earlier Wednesday, the same 57 congressmen signed a petition to initiate impeachment proceedings against four tribunal members who approved the referendum.

The same four members of the seven-seat tribunal then cast votes to dismiss the congressmen.

Congress' president, Jorge Cevallos, said in a news conference that the court's decision has "no legal basis," adding that the measure sought only to "create chaos in the country and confrontation."

Constitutional expert Enrique Herreria told The Associated Press that the tribunal's decision is a "flagrant" violation of the constitution.

The court "can fire public officials, (but) the lawmakers are not public officials. They're elected by the people," said Herreria, a former member of Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal.

Herreria described the actions by Congress and the tribunal as "political vendettas" within the framework of a "constant violation" of Ecuador's Constitution.

In a statement late Wednesday, Correa said his government respects the tribunal's measure and that the lawmakers' decision to replace the court's president was "absolutely unconstitutional."

The tribunal said it had informed the national police and the attorney general's office of its decision.

Asked if police would be used to stop the 57 lawmakers from entering Congress, Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea responded: "That is the decision of the Supreme Tribunal ... and they have to enforce it."

Tribunal President Jorge Acosta returned to his office Wednesday, disregarding a congressional vote to dismiss him a day earlier.

Congress approved the April 15 referendum on whether to rewrite the charter last month, but stipulated that the 130-member assembly would not have the power to dismiss lawmakers or officials elected last year.

But Correa, who has called Congress "a sewer of corruption," later said the assembly will have the power to dismiss not only lawmakers but judges and even the president himself.

The tribunal accepted Correa's version of the referendum last week, prompting lawmakers to call the vote unconstitutional and dismiss Acosta, who provided the swing vote when the body accepted Correa's referendum plan.

"They want to cheat the Ecuadorean people out of their referendum," said Acosta, adding lawmakers do not have the legal power to dismiss a member of the electoral court.

On Monday, lawmakers petitioned Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal to declare the referendum unconstitutional. On Tuesday, they voted to fire Acosta in an effort to block the referendum.

Acosta's congressionally appointed replacement, Alejandro Cepeda, said police blocked him from entering the tribunal's offices on Wednesday.

Correa, who took office Jan. 15, has rejected accusations of authoritarianism and says his proposed reforms aim to make elected officials more accountable.

Congress seeks to block Correa referendum

The Peninsular On-line, 3-4-07.

QUITO • Ecuador’s Congress voted on Friday to ask a top court to declare invalid President Rafael Correa’s proposal for a referendum on constitutional reforms.

The decision is likely to strain ties between lawmakers and Correa, a leftist elected in November after he promised to curb the influence of traditional parties whom many blame for instability and poverty in South America’s No. 5 oil producer.

After weeks of haggling, lawmakers in February agreed to Correa’s proposal for an April 15 vote to decide whether to call a special assembly to rewrite the constitution. They agreed after seeking limits on the powers of the assembly.

But lawmakers on Friday said Correa had since introduced a rewritten version of the guidelines for the referendum giving the proposed assembly broader powers, without first consulting the congress on the revisions.

The electoral court this week confirmed April 15 for the referendum, but lawmakers say they now want the constitutional court to declare it invalid because of unauthorized rewrites.

“They have betrayed constitutional principles by taking the step of convoking it in an unconstitutional way,” said Luis Almeida, a lawmaker with the Patriotic Society Party, or PSP, the second largest.

Correa, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, says he wants to overhaul the political system and rewrite the constitution to reduce the influence of corrupt elites on key institutions such as the courts.

But his critics fear Correa will use a popular assembly to bypass the congress and secure broader presidential powers as Chavez did in Venezuela by eliminating limits on immediate re-election and extending the presidential term in office from five to six years.

Correa is popular and many Ecuadoreans are fed up with their traditional political class, but his political movement has no representatives in the congress. Correa’s supporters in January stormed the congress to demand lawmakers accept the president’s proposal for a referendum.

Ecuador on Eve of Referendum Battle

Quito, Mar 2 (Prensa Latina) A campaign calling for the population to vote for the April 15 referendum supporting a Constituent Assembly with full powers has officially kicked off Friday in Ecuador.

By summoning the referendum, the Electoral Supreme Court (TSE) has 45 days to encourage the people to attend the plebiscite which, according to TSE president Jorge Acosta, will be crucial to change the country s fate.

The Assembly will respect the people s essential rights and the Constitution s original text will be approved through referendum, he explained

The Assembly will be made up of 130 delegates and last 180 days, extendible for another 70.

As many as 66 of its members must approve the Assembly s decisions for them to enter into force, and to establish an Assembly with full powers, over 3.5 million people must vote "Yes."

In the meantime, experts on the issue noted the "Yes" in the referendum needs an absolute majority support, and not just a simple majority as it happened until 1998.

Ecuador Set to Hold Popular Referendum

Quito, Mar 1 (Prensa Latina) Ecuador s TSE (Election Supreme Court) decided on Thursday to hold a popular plebiscite on April 15 for the establishment of a National Constituent Assembly with full powers.

TSE President Jorge Acosta pointed out that people would be called on radio and television tonight to participate in the referendum, adding that the TSE is responding to a demand from the Ecuadorian people.

The decision to call a referendum was made after the Economy Ministry transferred 16 million dollars for expenses, and the presidency of the Republic handed over an amended statute of the Constituent Assembly.

Acosta will also announce the Assembly's rules, which will be included on the ballot, which will have only one question: "Do you approve of calling and establishing a National Constituent Assembly to draw up a new Constitution?"

TSE spokespersons said that four out of seven members supported the call for a referendum. They were the representatives of the Democratic Left, Alianza Pais, Roldosista and Patriotic Society parties.

Those against were the right-wing organizations Social Christian and Institutional Renovating parties. The representative of the Democratic Christian Party abstained from voting.