Ecuador's Correa poised for easy re-election win

[Judi Lynn]

Ecuador's Correa poised for easy re-election win
Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:40am EDT

* Correa has strong lead ahead of Sunday's vote * Low oil prices point to tough second term * Correa likely to keep pressure on foreign investors * Global crisis may force him to soften bargaining style

By Alonso Soto QUITO, April 22

(Reuters) - Popular despite a sputtering
economy, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa is expected to win a
second term in an election on Sunday but he faces tougher times
ahead as low oil prices threaten his spending on projects for
the poor.

After only two years in office, the socialist Correa is
considered the most powerful leader in the OPEC nation's
30-year democracy, with a firm grip on the levers of the
economy and on state institutions.

Recent polls show he has about 50 percent support ahead of
Sunday's vote, way ahead of his seven rivals. The 46-year-old
needs to score more than 40 percent to avoid a run-off vote
with the second-placed candidate.

Correa had nearly two years left of his current term, but a
new constitution approved last year lets him start again from
scratch and the new rules allow presidents two consecutive
four-year terms.

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2253480220090422

[EFerrari]

1. So great for Ecuador. Have to admit, I didn't know

this vote was coming up!

[Judi Lynn]

2. Same here! It seemed to come from outta nowhere. It's a biggie, too. n/t

[Peace Patriot]

3. Thanks for posting! I would expect Correa to win. His approval rating has been running

60% to 70%, like other leftist leaders, so I don't know why he has only 50% in pre-election polls, except maybe a splintered field, with some of the more leftist groups, environmentalists and the indigenous not totally happy with Correa on environmental issues in particular (gold and other mining projects), and running candidates to "send a message." (Just a guess.) I knew that the new Constitution required a new election; didn't know it would be so soon. They do vote a lot in South America, don't they? On Constitutions, on Constitutional amendments, on recall elections, on votes of confidence or no confidence, as well as all the regularly scheduled elections. I love it! The will of the people really matters there, more than it seems to here--at least with these current governments in South America. Their notion of re-writing their Constitution every generation or so (or even more frequently) is very Jeffersonian. Jefferson said that we would probably need a new revolution every 20 years or so. He didn't mean a bloody revolution, but a re-thinking of the basic law of the land, new discussion, new ideas, within the democratic framework that they were setting up. He expected the Constitution to be a living document, evolving with the times--not a Bible or a fixed dogmatic program. We have seen our democracy thrive in some respects, as the people outgrew the Constitution on items like slavery, but ossify in way too many other respects, with items like the Electoral College (no direct election of the President), overly powerful Senators often representing very few people, "ruling for life" Supreme Court justices (generally bad--favoring fascist interests), jerrymandering of Congressional districts to give the Dem-Puke establishment a lock on power, unbelievably filthy elections in which a person has to have at least a million dollars on hand to even think of running for Congress, an out-of-control presidency with way, way too much power, and a completely putrid corpo/fascist 'news' monopoly establishment writing the national narrative, as well as rightwing Puke corporations owning and controlling the 'TRADE SECRET' code in all the voting machines. That's a sad record for a once revolutionary country. We had some great moments, and wonderful tides of progress--ending slavery, ending legal segregation, women's right to vote, the labor movement, the "New Deal" (involving a presidency that continued for four terms (before the Pukes shut that idea down--no more FDR's), and the social and anti-war revolutions of the 1960s. But our democracy is extremely off-kilter and unable to deal with the threats against it from global corporate predators and from entrenched military, intelligence and corporate/monetary elites. The sicko Bush Junta is, hopefully, the worst we will see--but we can't even prosecute those bastards, and we can't even get our money back (trillions looted!).

All of our ills are not directly attributable to the Constitution, but our corpo/fascists' sick and extremely hypocritical reverence for that document makes it difficult to do what they have done in South America: If one segment of society gets too entrenched, they re-write the rules to balance things out. Bolivia just did. Ecuador did it. Venezuela did it. Their purpose was specifically to break up entrenched, fascist, moneyed interests who controlled the government. Our Constitutional "conservatism" has served evil interests, but it's difficult to imagine such a big country as this one, with such dreadfully entrenched fascist and moneyed interests, and our war profiteer establishment, etc., undergoing such a basic democratic process. It would be, as Jefferson said, revolutionary. Democracy is revolutionary. And that is a very healthy thing. It keeps the ship of state on a good course, and corrects it when it errs. The Obama administration is a course correction, but not nearly what's needed. Fundamental change is needed. And I hesitate to say it can't happen here. South America has had brutal troubles from entrenched fascist interests, and they managed to re-write the rules. I'd like to think that we can, too. It's just hard to imagine.