Ecuador's political crisis deepened on Friday when the Constitutional Tribunal warned President Rafael Correa that he would be acting illegally if he ignores its eventual ruling on the constitutionality of a national referendum.
Correa said on Thursday night that he would not respect any ruling that opposed the referendum on whether to rewrite the country's constitution -- one of several disputes that have set Ecuador's courts, Congress and president at one another's throats.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal this week fired 57 congressmen it accused of interfering with the referendum, which the lawmakers have called unconstitutional. The congressmen's interference consisted of calling for the impeachment of a majority of members of the Electoral Tribunal.
PHOTO: AP
The separate Constitutional Tribunal is reviewing the measure's legality, but Correa said the court has no authority in the matter.
Correa supports the referendum and the creation of a special assembly to rewrite the constitution to limit the power of a political class he blames for Ecuador's problems of corruption and political instability. Correa is the country's eighth president in 10 years.
"It is a crime when a citizen disregards a ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal," said Santiago Velasquez, the court's president, on Friday.
Congress, which Correa has called "a sewer of corruption," approved the April 15 referendum last month, but stipulated that the 130-member assembly would not have the power to dismiss lawmakers and other officials elected in last year's elections.
But Correa disregarded the restrictions imposed by Congress, and the Electoral Tribunal approved his request that the assembly have unlimited powers to dismiss any elected official.
The seven-member electoral tribunal voted to oust the 57 congressmen after they signed a petition to start impeachment proceedings against the four court members who voted for Correa's version of the referendum.
On Thursday, dozens of police officers surrounded the congressional building to prevent the 57 lawmakers from entering. The 100-member unicameral body was unable to convene because it needs a quorum of 51.
The Constitutional Tribunal agreed on Thursday to a request from Congress to review the legality of the referendum. Correa responded that the court had no authority to act on the issue.
"The Supreme Election Tribunal is the maximum authority in elections," he said, adding that the Constitutional Tribunal is "dominated by the political parties."
The Constitutional Tribunal's rulings have often been ignored by presidents and Congress in the past.
Correa says his proposed reforms would make elected officials more accountable.
But opposition lawmaker Carlos Larreategui said that Ecuador "is starting to look like a dictatorship."
"The government is also trying to influence the Constitutional Tribunal's decision, which is the last resort to resolve this impasse," he said.
Correa, 43, a US-educated economist who says he wants to bring socialism to Ecuador, ran as a political outsider, earning support from Ecuadoreans fed up with the political establishment.
He is an admirer of Venezuela's firebrand anti-US President Hugo Chavez, who used a constitutional assembly to consolidate his power.
One of Japan’s biggest pop stars and best-known TV hosts, Masahiro Nakai, yesterday announced his retirement over sexual misconduct allegations, reports said, in the latest scandal to rock Japan’s entertainment industry. Nakai’s announcement came after now-defunct boy band empire Johnny & Associates admitted in 2023 that its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, for decades sexually assaulted teenage boys and young men. Nakai was a member of the now-disbanded SMAP — part of Johnny & Associates’s lucrative stable — that swept the charts in Japan and across Asia during the band’s nearly 30 years of fame. Reports emerged last month that Nakai, 52, who since
EYEING A SOLUTION: In unusually critical remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump said he was ‘destroying Russia by not making a deal’ US President Donald Trump on Wednesday stepped up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the war. Trump’s warning in a social media post came as the Republican seeks a quick solution to a grinding conflict that he had promised to end before even starting his second term. “If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
RSS