Ecuador re-elects President Rafael Correa.

AutorSaavedra, Luis Angel

The results of the Feb. 17 Ecuadoran elections, more than just re-electing President Rafael Correa for a third four-year term and electing a legislature under his control, reveal the total fragmentation of leftist political forces and threaten advances in protecting rights achieved through the 2008 Asamblea Constituyente (NotiSur, Oct. 12, 2007, and Oct. 10, 2008).

Correa achieved an overwhelming victory, capturing 57.79% of the votes, while conservative Guillermo Lasso polled a distant second, with 22.26%. The other six presidential candidates together took only 19.88%. Among them was Alberto Acosta, representing the Unidad Plurinacional de las Izquierdas, who received just 3.22%. The results eliminated the need for a runoff, re-electing Correa in the first round.

Correa's Movimiento Alianza PAIS also won big in elections for the unicameral Asamblea Nacional (AN), which will be seated in May. The president's party won 96 of the 137 seats in the AN. At a very distant second were the 12 deputies in Lasso's Creando Oportunidades (CREO), with Unidad Plurinacional de las Izquierdas winning five seats.

Counts in some electoral districts are still not final, and Movimiento Alianza PAIS could capture another three seats, bringing to 99 the number of seats the president will control.

National legislation requires that organic laws and constitutional amendments receive a two-thirds majority. In the next AN, Correa will need the support of 91 deputies if he wants to amend the 2008 Constitution, considered one of the most advanced in protecting rights but also an obstacle to some government policies. With 96 sure votes, and possibly 99, Correa can amend the Constitution, and he indicated he would do so in his nationally broadcast weekly radio and television talk on Feb. 23.

Protective action: an obstacle to implementing extractive policies?

The Accion de Proteccion (action to enforce constitutional rights), spelled out in Articles 86 and 88 of the Ecuadoran Constitution, guarantees all rights established in the same Constitution, including the rights of nature. Anyone, whether affected by the violation of a right or not, can file for protective action in any court in the country, either in writing or orally.

Given how easy it is to request such protection, indigenous and campesino communities, as well as environmental and human rights organizations, use it to defend their rights and the rights of nature. Such appeals have stalled projects to extract...

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