Voters head to polls in Ecuador constitutional referendum

[bemildred]

Source: DPA

Quito - Voters began heading to the polls Sunday in Ecuador in a referendum on the country's new referendum which leftist President Rafael Correa has billed as also being a decision affecting the future model for society. The atmosphere as Ecuadorians began voting was described as calm, amid latest polls indicating that the referendum would garner the more than 50 per cent backing needed for approval.

Over 9 million people were set to go to the polls, with voting being compulsory. If approved, the proposal will also entail early presidential and legislative elections.

Exit poll results were set to be made public when polls close, while official results were set to take at least 10 days.

Constitutional reform was one of the core promises made by Correa in his alection campaign. The new constitution would give the president greater powers.

Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/234452,voters-head-to-polls-in-ecuador-constitutional-referendum.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Ecuador votes on new powers for leftist Correa

Ecuador votes on new powers for leftist Correa
Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:07am EDT

By Alonso Soto and Frank Jack Daniel

QUITO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Millions of Ecuadoreans from the Galapagos islands to Indian mountain villages vote on Sunday in a referendum that leftist President Rafael Correa is expected to win, tightening his hold on the oil-exporting nation.

Like fellow South American socialists Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and President Evo Morales of Bolivia, Correa wants a rewritten constitution that gives him more power to regulate the economy and increase spending on health and education.

If approved, the new constitution will erode the power of Congress and the army, which helped topple three presidents in a decade in the poor nation of 14 million people.

"Really, I believe this is the last opportunity for peaceful change in Ecuador," said Correa, 45, who contrasts his socialist plans with the crisis in global capital markets.

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2732757420080928?rpc=401&

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Ecuadoreans vote on new constitution
FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer



September 28, 2008 5:33 AM

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - Ecuadoreans voted Sunday on a new constitution that would significantly broaden leftist President Rafael Correa's powers and let him run for two more consecutive terms.

Correa says approval of the Andean nation's 20th constitution will spur ''rapid, profound change,'' benefiting the hardworking, humble majority and helping him eradicate a political class that made Ecuador one of Latin America's most corrupt countries.

While conceding that it's far from radical compared to similar projects in Venezuela and Bolivia, critics say the new constitution would give Correa far too much control over the economy, as well as the judicial and legislative branches.

Opinion surveys indicated the 45-year-old Correa would comfortably win the vote, a plebiscite on his nearly two years in power.

As polls opened Sunday, he said in a brief televised speech the vote is ''not in favor of or against the government,'' but to decide ''the model of society in which we will live.''

More:
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565375686794413254

[High Plains]

2. Man, the "fascist dictators" are popping up all over the place down there.

First Chavez, the twice democratically-elected fascist dictator.

Then Morales, the democratically-elected fascist dictator

And today, Lula criticized the bailout, so he's obviously wanting to be a fascist dictator.

And now, Correa seeking fascist dictatorial powers from his people through elections.

I wonder when these guys are going to get the fascist dictator treatment from Fox News and the DU Red Squad.

[bemildred]

3. The examples of non-violent, relatively orderly politcal revolution taking place

in Latin America offer much for downtrodden USA-ians to contemplate. We already have the power, we just need to start using it.

I suppose one thing we can thank President Bush for is his unintentional, neglectful enabling of these sweeping changes. I hope that in time they will serve as a model for the rest of the World.

[David__77]

4. Best wishes for a New Ecuador.

A new socially-oriented Ecuador is emerging.

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. Kick for the people.

[Peace Patriot]

6. Ecuador's new Constitution will give legal standing to Nature itself! I think that's a first

in the world.

Chevron-Texaco inflicted the Ecuadoran rainforest with a bigger toxic spill than the Exxon Valdez--a humungous mess that several poor indigenous groups sued Chevron-Texaco over. The indigenous are winning that lawsuit. But what if they had succumbed to the death threats against them or to their dire poverty, and hadn't been able to pursue the lawsuit? With this new Constitutional provision, the government or other parties could have stepped in and sued Chevron-Texaco on behalf of Nature itself.

It is a VERY revolutionary concept--and one that could save the planet and the human race. Hold the fuckers responsible for what they have done to endangered fish and birds, to water supplies, and to the atmosphere and the planet's climate stability. Here we give Corpos "personhood"--the rights of a human being--yet they live forever, and thus accumulate vast quantities of land, resources, wealth and power, which are then used, by successive generations of the very rich, to oppress us.

If Corpos can have human rights, and legal standing as an "individual," why not Nature, which we need a whole lot more than we need any Corpos?

Make Nature a public trust again--and violate it at your peril!

If that's what Rafael Correa is going to be "dictating" about--I'm all for it. Dictate to Chevron-Texaco. Dictate to Exxon Mobil. Dictate to Halliburton. Dictate to Bechtel. Dictate to Dyncorp. It's not really tyranny. It's an FDR champion of the people saying: "Organized money hates me--and I welcome their hatred!" (--Franklin Delano Roosevelt) It's dictating to the real dictators!

We're a long way from that here. But we will claw our way back to democracy some day--I'm sure. And we have the South Americans to inspire us in the meantime, with their transparent voting systems, and their remarkable new leaders.

------------

Highly recommended today: www.BoRev.net. "Big Galapagos Voting Review." Says it all.

[cal04]

7. Correa hails victory in constitutional referendum

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080929/wl_afp/ecuadorconstitutionreferendum_080929050515

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said his constitutional referendum won a "crushing victory," after exit polls showed some 66 to 70 percent of voters backed his socialist reform proposal.

"The new constitution has had a crushing victory. It's a historic moment that transcends by far the people who by luck or accident have been involved in this process," Correa said Sunday in opposition stronghold Guayaquil, on the Pacific coast.

In a bid to avert unrest, Correa asked the opposition and all "no" voters to remain calm and issued a called to unity.

"We extend them our hand. Let them acknowledge defeat and let's strike out together in the new direction the great majority of Ecuadorans, as well as all Latin America, are setting: a society with more justice, much more equality and without so much ... misery."

(snip)
The new constitution would also close down all foreign military bases in Ecuador, forcing the United States to move its regional anti-drug operations, run for nearly 10 years from an air base in the port city of Manta.