| Prominent Ecuadorian congressman who accompanied Correa until recently analyzed the referendum just met and concluded that this was indeed a setback for the government and above all, that the authoritarian drift of Correa's a fact.
consultation topics
In exercise of its powers, President Rafael Correa called for a referendum, held on 7 May. Nearly a week without knowing the final results yet, you can do as a reading of the political meanings of the call and the effects of the eighth electoral process in these four years in office. The referendum proposed by President Correa scored a new time of the "Citizen's Revolution" and was organized around the following themes: a) Fighting crime formulas Ecuadorian historical right, according to which there is a supposed opposition between rights and security; b) direct government intervention in the management Correa justice, attempting to create an exceptional procedure for appointing judges , prosecutors, advocates, notaries, and registrars. And to further reform the composition of the Council of the Judiciary to direct delegates of the political powers-criticized model in Ecuador and contrary to the Constitution of 2008 -; c) State regulation in the media communication to through a Council Regulation, which includes the possibility of regulating the press, and d) A model of maximum criminal law, totally contrary to the principles of a State Constitutional Rights and justice and progressive view of the minimal state criminal action, a thesis that is contained in the current Constitution [1] . above With President Correa decided to adopt the thesis of "hard" and assumes a speech restriction of rights to the name of security and confidence in their leadership. The consultation goes from being a legitimate tool direct democracy to a form of legitimate decisions that ignore principles and institutions of the newly adopted Constitution of Ecuador. is not, therefore, at all, to criticize the tool popular consultation as such, but its actual content. The line that links to the ten questions is the exacerbation of the punitive power of the state and much of the discussion centers around the attempt to intervene in the administration of justice. The proposal that the Correa government is responsible for restructuring the entire judicial system, as an exception and over the next eighteen months, coincides with the move to the arena of justice many debates and disputes order Political : - three hundred leaders and activists are being tried for sabotage and terrorism ",
- criminal proceedings are pending the police involved in the uprising of September 30 last year, and
- the relationship with the media has gone from power to the filing of several lawsuits against journalists and media for content of publications [2] .
The other major issue of consultation is the regulation and control over mass media. On one hand, proposes a constitutional amendment in ambiguous terms raises the express prohibition of conduct "other business" for those who are officers, directors and principal (?) shareholders in companies of national communication. This provision, as well as arguably introduces a mechanism of pressure on the media, it is contrary to that which would have been a progressive argument for the democratization of media ownership. In another of his questions, the consultation aims to create a Council Regulation of the Media (including print media), which could decide on further responsibility of journalists, in direct contradiction with the Constitution and the rules of the American Convention , which states that the determination of responsibility is further judicial and not administrative.
For us (the members of the breakaway movement 25) it is clear that the Consultation opens debate on basic notions of democracy: separation of powers, civil rights against state power and exercise of individual freedoms. Breaking defines himself as a New Left movement , whose distances from the orthodox left depends precisely to claim legitimacy and trust in the institutions of democracy and firmly defend the individual freedoms of citizens and citizens. Additionally, in the recent history of Ecuador, the revolutionary has been build institutions and respect the rules . It is no longer the order of the previous political system, discredited and disqualified, we talk about rules-driven and approved by the PAIS Movement within the framework of the draft Rafael Correa. So at stake is the ability to attach to the limits imposed by the Constitution designed by us / themselves. During the four years that rupture [3] was part of the AGREEMENT COUNTRY, we held that it was a political process in open competition, with great diversity its ideological cohesion within and still weak, the result of the recent creation of the movement. no lack of internal debate nor public, but this ideological dispute was settled with the referendum: President Correa opted for the traditional view of conservatives and right-Ecuadorian and concentrator vision of power, eliminating newly created mechanisms to strengthen citizen participation in selection processes of oversight bodies such as the Council of the Judiciary. Polls at the start of the campaign showed a greater than 70 support percent of the ideas proposed in the Consultation, which was a reflection of the popularity of President Correa faced just 20 percent of historic opposition, led by the discredited traditional political parties, or what the president has called "The 'party." With the passage of time, the debate moved to a completely different: no critical voice was that of the party-but who we rise in defense of democratic values, the original project that brought to power strap and newly established institutions by Ecuadorians, to approve the Constitution Montecristi referendum. In the early days of campaigning, the president assured the country that his thesis would be imposed at a rate of 7 to 1 . The National Electoral Council, and questioned by some of his decisions, called President Correa as a political election in three different versions: as president, as a proponent of the Consultation, and as president of the Movement COUNTRY. was decreed, as provided by law, a ban on advertising to create a level playing field in the electoral debate, but despite the existing rules, the executive hired in that period, more advertising than the months preceding the election process [4] . The 45 days of campaigning for the Consultation were also marked by harsh criticism of special recruitment processes of public entertainment [5] and other budgetary decisions, such as increased salaries for police and military, along with the advancement of a bonus for civil servants, whose payment was scheduled for the end of the year and was not general, but was subject to a performance evaluation, this payment was finally made a few days before the vote. n the midst of all these criticism, voting proceeded normally on 7 May and the first results were announced through the media run by the government and based on an exit poll survey (exit poll ) made by a single polling company. A week later, with nearly 80 percent of the vote scrutinized, seems definitive triumph of SI all the questions, but the outcome is far from those announced on Saturday and we show a vote in against the thesis presidential over between 40 and 45 percent nationwide, double the historic vote against President Correa. The results also show that the president has lost domestic support today with him and lost his electorate in most provinces of the Sierra [6] . There was also a major vote of rejection in the provinces of the Amazon and Central highlands, partly due to the positions increasingly at odds with the indigenous sector and prosecution against some of its leaders. The result can also provide for the implementation of the mining project in the territories will be particularly contentious. be added that the conceptual proximity to the right argument has weakened Ecuadorian President Correa's discourse, even among groups closest to the process. These distances are expressed in the legislative and regional governments, which adds a new factor to the overall scenario. The political setback worsens compared to the overwhelming victory foreshadowed by the president two months ago and also in relation to the dubious "exit poll" on the basis of which Correa said in his first victory uniform and underestimated their opponents in the Consultation. None of the questions (except maybe the first related to "security") exceeds 50 percent of the total vote and therefore would not have been approved if they force the previous rules on direct democracy . addition, among the ten questions, two deserve the rejection more importantly, the autonomy referred to the Judicial System and providing for the establishment of a Media Regulatory Council. This vote is reflective, differentiated is a clear message about what the main criticisms and concerns of those not yet identified with the opposition. If this result can be read with sufficient breadth and self-dose, should become an invitation to review and correct two aspects: the conception of the President, personal exercise of authority and power, and the prosecution of conflict politicians. The narrow margin of this triumph and the new political configuration is the opposite of a strengthened and renewed legitimacy, which was the main aim of this initiative, political rather than programmatic, and whose consequences are still to come.
* Leader of the breakaway movement 25 (www.ruptura25.org), former Assemblyman constituent, now a legislator, a member of the National Assembly of Ecuador. From Breaking four years ago was part of the Agreement COUNTRY movement led by Rafael Correa, decided our separation from the Government and the Movement countries following the theses that were raised in the notice of the referendum.
[1] For an analysis of each of the ten questions in the Consultation: http://ruptura25.org/images/stories/file/
ciento20a question by ciento20pregunta by ciento202.pdf [2] According to the newspaper El Universo
(http://www.eluniverso.com/2011/03/31/1/1355/demandas-500-millones-suma-correa.html) the demands made by President Correa added 500 billion . The latter are against journalists Juan Carlos Calderon and Christian Zurita for libel (as a result of the publication of his research on public procurement of Mr. Fabricio Correa) and required each to pay $ 5 million for pain and suffering . Emilio Palacio journalist has been sued for 10 million dollars for the editorial content of the newspaper that published it ( The Universe ) also consists in the application and payment is required 80 million in moral damages. [3] Movement Break 25. Four years ago the split was part of the Agreement COUNTRY movement led by Rafael Correa, decided our separation Movement government and country as a result of the arguments raised in the call for the referendum. [4] This detailed report on participation in government advertising: http://www.participacionciudadana.org/pc10/
index.php? Option = com_content & view = article & id = 160 :
bulletin-de-press-186 & catid = 41: bulletin-de-news & Itemid = 67 [5] Here details of the recruitment process of free concerts to be performed fifteen days before the vote:
http://calle13enecuador.wordpress.com/ [6] In the two provinces where SI triumphs, what made with about twenty percentage points below its traditional vote in these constituencies. |
