Ecuadorans voted by a landslide to limit presidents to two terms in a nationwide referendum that delivered a blow to former Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa’s hopes of returning to power.
Results from Sunday’s balloting showed voters approved by an almost 2-to-1 margin a measure reinstating the term limits that Correa eliminated from the constitution in 2015.
Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno, who was a protege of Correa until taking office last year, hailed the results as a triumph for Ecuador’s democracy.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Correa said that they would usher in a new period of political instability.
The two men have been feuding bitterly almost since Moreno took office last year and quickly extended an olive branch to business leaders and indigenous groups who were bullied by Correa, a leftist firebrand.
“The days of confrontation are behind us,” a triumphant Moreno said in televised remarks with his Cabinet at the presidential palace. “It’s time to embrace each other.”
Correa tried to put a positive spin on the results, saying the 36 percent of voters opposing term limits show that his political movement remains the most dominant in Ecuador.
The results signified a win for Moreno in his struggle with Correa for control of their deeply divided leftist ruling Country Alliance party.
The outcome was predicted by surveys ahead of the referendum — although most had projected even bigger support for Moreno’s “yes” camp of between 72 and 84 percent.
To prevail, Moreno relied heavily on an alliance with conservative opposition parties whose support going forward may be in doubt.
“It’s going to be very difficult for a mediocre person like Lenin Moreno to keep everyone happy,” Correa told Venezuela’s Telesur network in an interview following the vote.
“The only thing that unites these people is their hatred of Correa, not even love of country,” he said.
Six other government-backed proposals on the ballot, some of them seeking to reduce Correa’s influence, also easily passed.
One would give Moreno more authority over a council that determines who can lead some of the nation’s most important institutions.
Another would bar officials convicted of corruption from seeking office — a clause that apparently would apply to Ecuadoran Vice President Jorge Glas, a Correa ally who was recently convicted of corruption.
Another would strengthen restrictions on mining by banning it entirely in protected areas, indigenous territory and cities.
The referendum bucks a trend in several Latin American nations, where leaders have pushed for constitutional amendments that would let them stay in power longer, sometimes indefinitely.
In Bolivia, a court recently paved the way for left-leaning President Evo Morales to run for a fourth term despite a voter referendum that rejected it.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is running for office in an election that opposition leaders consider illegitimate.
In Honduras, conservative President Juan Orlando Hernandez was recently sworn in for a second term after the Supreme Court ruled that a constitutional ban on re-election violated his rights.
Correa governed Ecuador from 2007 to last year, winning the loyalty of millions of poor Ecuadoreans with generous health and social programs and lauded for bringing stability, but the combative leader feuded with the business community, the news media, environmentalists and indigenous groups, pushing through measures that consolidated executive power and expanded mineral exploration in indigenous territories.
After leaving office, he moved to his wife’s native Belgium, but recently returned to rally against Moreno, who he now calls a “traitor.”
Additional reporting by AFP
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was