Ecuador Divided over Correa's Referendum

Ecuador’s Constitutional Court last week gave the go ahead for a 10-point referendum that supporters say will help fight crime and corruption in the judiciary, but opponents deride as an attempt to consolidate power in the executive branch. Contentious measures contained in the referendum—including a proposal for judicial reform and restrictions on the business activities of the national news media—have divided the country and eaten away at Correa’s coalition. However, the referendum’s proposals may have enough popular support to become law. No official date for the vote has been announced, though the president of Ecuador’s Electoral Council Omar Simón indicated Tuesday it may be held in May. 

The referendum asks votes to approve or reject 10 unrelated proposals, five of which would require amending the Constitution approved in 2008. Not all of them will shake the country to its foundations; one measure would prohibit killing animals for entertainment, which would end bullfighting and cockfighting. Another proposal would ban gambling.

Other provisions are more contentious. Currently in Ecuador, prisoners charged with a crime must be released after a year if they have not yet gone to trial. One of the most popular measures, according to a recent poll by SP Research and Studies, would do away with this restriction—a change that Correa says is necessary to fight increasingly high levels of crime. Security has become a concern for voters in recent years, with the murder rate doubling over the last two decades to 20 homicides per 100,000, according to UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Philip Alston. 

In terms of the judicial reform, one of the measures seeks to create a judicial committee with a government representative to oversee the courts. The oppositions says this serves as a means for Correa to limit the courts’ independence. The three-person committee would assume the power to appoint judges—a responsibility that currently falls to an independent committee composed of judges.

Another controversial proposal would restrict national media companies’ ability to invest in businesses unrelated to news production. Proponents of the measure argue that it will help to avoid conflicts of interest. Media companies, on the other hand, have portrayed such restrictions as an attack on freedom of expression. Correa’s relationship with the news media has been tense. Following a September 2011 police uprising, Correa used his authority under a state of siege to order the media to show official broadcasts disseminating the government’s point of view, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Ecuador’s ranking in Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index has dropped from fifty-sixth place in 2007 (the year Correa took office) down to 101 in 2010. In an interview with Radio Huancavilca, Correa accused the media of opposing the referendum in news coverage.

The referendum has prompted harsh criticism from opposition groups as well as defections from Correa’s governing coalition. The Chamber of Industry and Production called the referendum “unconstitutional” in a statement—notwithstanding the fact that the plebiscite has been approved by the Constitutional Court. “We question the constitutionality of the questions…both in substance and in the manner they are posed,” the statement read, according to the Associated Press. Three members of Correa’s coalition in Congress withdrew their support for the president in opposition to the proposal to reform the judiciary, Reuters reports. But that has not stopped Correa from moving forward with the project, which he has framed as part of his “citizens revolution.” Correa tweeted on February 16 that “Direct democracy at the ballot box reinforces representative democracy.”

Despite opposition, a slim majority of Ecuadorans appear to support most of the proposed initiatives. A poll conducted this month by SP Research and Studies found that all of the measures would win over 50 percent of the vote, though responses to four of the proposals fell within the 4 percent margin of error. 

Learn more:

• Read the text of the decree outlining the referendum’s proposals.
• Video of Correa talking about the referendum.
• SP Research and Studies presents the results of the recent poll finding that a majority of Ecuadorans support the referendum’s proposals.
• AS/COA Online Resource Guide: Crisis in Ecuador.