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 Natives Call Prez to Shape Constituent Assembly

Quito, Feb 12 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorian Indigenous Nationality Confederation (CONAIE) leader Luis Macas urged President Rafael Correa on Monday to stop negotiating with the political parties, and establish a Constituent Assembly.

"We say to the president that he has to retake what the people want: a Constituent Assembly fully empowered. The government and the acting social movements are aware, so far, of the need for a change," Macas said in this capital.

A period of mobilizations began on Monday to press the Congress and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to give way to the referendum for a "fully-empowered" Constituent Assembly, he asserted.

The top CONAE leader said the marches on Monday and Tuesday will try to avoid a negative decision by the Legislature, about the referendum proposal, and that the Assembly´s statute is altered.

"The Constituent Assembly has to be fully empowered, because if not, the people will make its own Assembly in the streets," he warned.

The country is facing a historic bill for all Ecuadorians, and the path chosen by the citizenship can not disappear into oblivion again, he stressed.

Macas asserted that the Legislature is in charge of making the TSE responsible for the referendum, and the head of State should stop negotiating with the political parties, because if he does not, this process will take the lane of delays and obscurity.

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)