Ecuador Moves to Elect to Assembly

Quito, Feb 27 (Prensa Latina) Ecuador s Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea ratified on Tuesday that each group or organization will need one percent of signatures to present candidates for the Constituent Assembly, expected this year.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa was to deliver a modified statute to the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) today, including proposals made by legislators, Larrea informed via TV.

He said the statute would be codified, including Decrees 02 and 054, plus some of the Congress resolutions that "do not distort the consult."

As an example, he said congressional proposals to the contrary, age will not be a factor for candidacy, and the time limit to convoke the Assembly - once the referendum wins - will be 150 days, not 125 as stated earlier.

Larrea clarified there will also be a period for the population to reject candidates or Assembly members.

Concluding with the determination of having the Constituent Assembly this year, he said the plans are for it to be installed in October.

Constituent Assembly advances in Ecuador

Hernan Etchaleco
Pravda.ru Feb 15

After weeks of disputes and frustrated sessions, the Congress approved the President’s request for a referendum on whether to rewrite the country’s constitution.

In what analysts consider as a stunning political victory of leftist President Rafael Correa, the Congress of Ecuador approved on Tuesday his request for a referendum on whether to hold a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the country’s constitution. The Congress meeting was originally scheduled for Monday but the negative of the opposition lawmakers to pass the bill delayed the session.

Early in the morning hundreds of supporters of President Correa gathered at the gates of the Congress building in Quito as they did two weeks ago when thousands stormed the building, battled police on the streets and forced lawmakers to evacuate the building to demand the referendum be approved.

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

To obtain the approval of the Congress, Correa introduced some amendments to the original proposal, which demanded two weeks of negotiations. 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.

Correa has not yet anticipated specific reforms he is willing to introduce in the new constituion. He has only advanced that 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.

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."

The rewrtie of the constitution was the core of Correa’s proposals during the campaign last year. He has also pledged to restructure debt, renegotiate oil contracts with foreign companies operating in Ecuador and end a lease allowing the US military to une an air base.

Correa follows presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez and Bolivia, Evo Morales, who have fuelled constitutional assemblies in their respective countries, shortly after taking office.

Ecuador referendum on April 15

Gulf News, Feb 15, 2007

Quito, Ecuador: Ecuador's Congress approved holding a referendum on whether to create an assembly to rewrite the Constitution, bowing to demands by the new leftist president who is seeking to weaken the nation's traditional political parties.

Rafael Correa, an admirer of Venezuela's anti-US firebrand President Hugo Chavez, wants the assembly to rewrite the constitution to limit the power of the parties, which he blames for this small Andean nation's problems.

"The fight is just starting," Correa said in a statement. He called on Ecuadoreans "to fulfil their role in history, crushing the political mafias at the ballot boxes".

The referendum initiative was approved 57-1 in the 100-member Congress on Tuesday. Most opposition lawmakers abandoned the session before the vote in protest, calling the measure unconstitutional.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal said later on Tuesday the referendum will be held on April 15. Ecuador has been marked by political instability, with seven presidents in the last decade. More than 60 per cent of the population lives in poverty. Correa, 43, who took office on January 15, won a November election run-off as a charismatic outsider who pledged to lead a "citizens' revolution" against a political establishment widely seen as corrupt and incompetent.

Opposition lawmakers said the referendum vote was illegal because the constitution says reforms must be made by Congress, not by a special assembly. "We're going to have generalised chaos throughout the country starting tomorrow," said Federico Perez, the only congressman who stayed to vote against the measure. Perez added that his many opposition lawmakers were intimidated by pro-government protesters.

Nearly 1,000 people gathered outside Congress, including hundreds of highland Indians in traditional clothing, to demand lawmakers approve the referendum. And last month Correa's backers stormed the building to pressure for the vote, forcing a suspension of the session.

"How is it possible that under pressure ... with the pretext that we need reforms that we all want, the constitution is violated?" Perez said. But Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea called the vote a "triumph of the citizenry". "The popular pressure led a bloc of lawmakers to understand that this is a popular demand," he said. The country's highest electoral court had ruled that lawmakers must decide on whether to call the referendum, which critics say is an attempt by Correa to consolidate power in the presidency.

The measure passed with the support of leftist and centre-left parties and legislators belonging to former President Lucio Gutierrez's populist party. Gutierrez was driven from power in 2005 by street protests, in which Correa participated. His party has 24 lawmakers, the second-largest bloc in Congress.

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 Plan vs. Colombia Plan

Quito, Feb 11 (Prensa Latina) President Rafael Correa´s government is due to boost a denominated "Ecuador Plan" to face negative effects of the Colombia Plan in the north border, official sources have confirmed.

This concerns a "foreign policy peace initiative" agaisnt damages caused by Colombian air fumigations with glyphosate in the country's neighboring zone, a government spokesman stated.

This program, analyzed at a cabinet's meeting held Friday in the eastern city of Tena, will also be used to solve problems caused by the displacement of citizens from the neighboring territory to this nation.

Government Minister Gustavo Larrea highlighted Ecuador Plan will be presented to the international community, with the aim of alleviating difficulties of the national bordering people, affected by the armed conflict in Colombia.

Larrea demanded the definitive end of those air sprayings in the bordering strip, which has generated tension in bilateral links, damage people's health and destroy legal crops.

According to United Nations, about 500,000 Colombian citizens live in this country, of them 250,000 abandoned their homes due to the internal war and other 11,000 are refugees.

Gov't: Ecuadorean Congress Will Remain

By GONZALO SOLANO

Washington Post
Thursday, February 1, 2007

QUITO, Ecuador -- Ecuador's new leftist government said Thursday that it does not plan to dissolve Congress despite a bitter fight over a push to overhaul the country's charter that led protesters to storm the capitol this week.

Armed with clubs and rocks, thousands of supporters of President Rafael Correa invaded the congressional building Tuesday to demand that lawmakers call a March 18 referendum on whether the constitution should be rewritten. They forced the session to be suspended and police dispersed the protests after firing tear gas on the crowd.

Correa says the referendum is necessary to limit the power of Ecuador's traditional parties, which he blames for the country's problems. Opposition lawmakers, meanwhile, have raised fears that a constitutional assembly with unlimited powers, as Correa advocates, might move to close the legislature.

Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea said Thursday that Correa has "no intention" of shutting Congress over the dispute.

"The government guarantees that Congress will function," Larrea said. "To be clear, the executive branch has no intention of dissolving Congress."

Tensions over the issue have been high since Correa took office Jan. 15. During his election campaign, Correa called Congress a "sewer" of corruption.

Congressional head Jorge Cevallos has accused the president of acting like a "dictator" by trying to impose his will on congressmen who were as legitimately elected as he was.

Ecuador's National Electoral Tribunal last week decided to send Correa's request for the referendum to Congress for review and approval. Correa contends the constitution allows him to call referendums on matters of national interest without the legislature's permission.

Correa has said his government hopes to win at least 70 percent of seats in a constitutional assembly.

Ecuadorean government denies it has plans to dissolve Congress

February 1, 2007, IHT

QUITO, Ecuador: Ecuador's new leftist government said on Thursday that it does not plan to dissolve Congress, despite a bitter fight over a push to overhaul the country's charter that led protesters to storm the capitol this week.

Armed with clubs and rocks, thousands of supporters of President Rafael Correa invaded the congressional building Tuesday to demand that lawmakers call a March 18 referendum on whether the constitution should be rewritten, forcing the session to be suspended. Police dispersed the protests after firing tear gas on the crowd.

Correa says the referendum is necessary to limit the power of Ecuador's traditional parties, which he blames for the country's problems. Opposition lawmakers, meanwhile, have raised fears that a constitutional assembly with unlimited powers, as Correa advocates, might move to close the legislature.

On Thursday, Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea said Thursday that Correa has "no intention" of shutting Congress over the dispute.

"The government guarantees that Congress will function," Larrea said. "To be clear, the executive branch has no intention of dissolving Congress."

Larrea met with congressional head Jorge Cevallos late Wednesday in an attempt to smooth over tensions, which have been high since Correa took office Jan. 15.

During his election campaign Correa called Congress a "sewer" of corruption. Cevallos has accused him of acting like a "dictator" by trying to impose his will on congressmen who were as legitimately elected as he was.

Ecuador's National Electoral Tribunal last week decided to send Correa's request for the referendum to Congress for review and approval. Correa contends the constitution allows him to call referendums on matters of national interest without the legislature's permission.

"This is our last opportunity for peaceful changes in this country," Correa told reporters Wednesday in the port city of Guayaquil. "I fear that if we fail in this peaceful change, the next change will come with great violence."

A U.S.-trained economist, he has said his government hopes to win at least 70 percent of seats in a constitutional assembly.

ECUADOR: The Complicated Road to a Constituent Assembly

Kintto Lucas

QUITO, Jan 31 (IPS) - One of the key campaign pledges of Ecuador's new left-leaning president, Rafael Correa, was to hold a referendum for the creation of a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution, in order to bring about radical political and economic reforms.

While the popular pressure and a political pact between the government and former president Lucio Gutiérrez (2003-2005) would seem to guarantee that the referendum will take place, a decision by the electoral court to put the question in the hands of Congress has angered many of the social organisations that back Correa.

The groups, worried that Gutiérrez will not live up to his part of the agreement, decided to hold protests outside of the single-chamber Congress in order to pressure the legislators to approve the referendum.

When some 5,000 demonstrators gathered outside the legislature Tuesday, the congressional session was suspended, and lawmakers were escorted out of the building by police.

A smaller group of protesters then shoved their way through the police cordon and into the legislature, which they occupied briefly until they were dispersed with tear gas by the police.

Although Congress was getting ready to vote on the referendum for a constituent assembly, which, if approved, would be organised by the electoral court, the protest reflected the social movements' distrust of the legislature, to which Correa himself referred during the campaign as a "sewer of corruption."

Correa's Alianza País party did not field congressional candidates of its own, which means the president depends on allies, such as Gutiérrez's Patriotic Society Party (PSP), to push through reforms like the constituent assembly.

The demonstrators were also protesting a decision by the legislators to increase their salaries by 1,000 dollars, just three weeks after they reduced them and pledged that the current legislative period would be marked by austerity.

Luis Villacís, the leader of the Popular Democratic Movement (MPD), told IPS that the demonstration "expressed the people's demand for a referendum to establish a constituent assembly."

The MPD, whose members made up the bulk of Tuesday's protesters, is comprised of teachers' unions and associations of students and small businesses.

Trade unionist Mesías Tatamuez, who has links to the Socialist Party, said the demonstrations would not only continue, but would expand throughout the country.

The labour activist said that the mobilisation is also aimed at getting the government to "open up to a broader dialogue" with the country's civil society organisations, whose views -- he complained -- are not being taken into account.

The government "is acting on its own," and "if we want to defeat the right, we must open ourselves up to dialogue" and create a large unified front, he argued.

"We have launched a process of mobilisation until Congress respects the Ecuadorian people's demand for change and decides to call a referendum," said César Rodríguez, who coordinated the supporters of the ruling Alianza País party during the demonstration.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), which did not take part in Tuesday's demonstration, announced protests of its own and a possible "uprising" -- along the lines of past nationwide indigenous mobilisations -- unless clear steps were taken to call a referendum.

ECUARUNARI (Confederation of Kichwa Peoples of Ecuador), the most powerful CONAIE member organisation, held a special assembly on Monday and Tuesday to draw up a schedule of activities to press for the referendum.

"The constituent assembly cannot be blocked by a few legislators. It is a demand by the people, and will become reality. If they try to stop it and an indigenous uprising is required (to make it happen), then that's what we'll do," said ECUARUNARI president Humberto Cholango.

Cholango said CONAIE, ECUARUNARI and dozens of other social organisations and movements have joined together in a National Front for the Plurinational Constituent Assembly, which plans to participate in the assembly as a unified body.

"Only by means of unity among the social organisations of the countryside and the cities can we defeat the rightwing power groups which, since they won't be able to block the constituent assembly, will try to take it over, in order to impose their own interests," said the activist.

The head of CONAIE, Luis Macas, reported that indigenous communities and organisations are beginning to discuss aspects to be included in the foundations of the new, overhauled political, legal and economic structures in Ecuador.

"It is essential to discuss issues that must be considered by the constituent assembly and must be in the new constitution, like the defence of sovereignty, the nationalisation of natural resources, the defence of biodiversity, and the agrarian revolution," said Macas.

In surveys by the Datanálisis and Cedatos polling firms, 85 and 80 percent of respondents, respectively, said they backed the creation of a constituent assembly.

The intricate political pact between Correa and Gutiérrez to convene the assembly includes several steps or conditions. The first was the government's support last week for the designation of a PSP representative as president of the electoral court.

The Correa administration also appointed one of the former president's associates as head of the Banco Nacional de Fomento (national development bank).

But instead of deciding on Correa's request for a referendum, the electoral court sent the proposal to Congress to determine whether or not it is "constitutional."

Another point in the agreement was for the electoral court to lift the ban on political activity that hangs over Gutiérrez, to allow him to run for a seat on the constituent assembly.

In addition, Correa is to choose the new comptroller-general from a list of names sent to him by Congress, which is made up of people with links to Gutiérrez.

Correa said he backed the idea of Gutiérrez running for a seat on the constituent assembly, so that he can be "defeated at the polls."

Some sectors that support Correa have criticised his pact with Gutiérrez, who the president has publicly described as a "snake."

The demonstrations began a week after the electoral court left the decision on the referendum up to Congress, although the government downplayed the importance of that move. "The final resolution will be a call for a popular consultation (referendum)," said Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea.

"We have made it clear that we support the consultation, and we will vote in Congress to give the question fast-track treatment," said the head of the PSP, Gilmar Gutiérrez, Lucio's brother and the party's presidential candidate in the elections.

The referendum apparently has majority support in the 100-member legislature, with the backing of 53 lawmakers: 24 from the PSP, 11 from the Democratic Left and Ethical Network, six from the indigenous Pachakutik Movement, three from the Popular Democratic Movement, one from the Socialist Party, one from the New Country Movement, six from the populist Ecuadorian Roldosista Party, and one independent. (END/2007)