QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador’s top court endorsed and sent to the National Assembly on Friday a constitutional reform package that would allow indefinite re-election for President Rafael Correa.
Correa’s ruling Alianza Pais party holds 100 of the assembly’s 137 seats, so the Constitutional Court’s ruling signals almost certain success for the government-proposed changes, which would end term limits for all elected officials.
The opposition has demanded the question be submitted to a plebiscite. Opinion polls say about two-thirds of Ecuadoreans favor deciding the issue in a referendum rather than leaving it to the National Assembly alone.
Correa was first elected in 2006 and his current term ends in 2017. He has said he would seek another term only if he considered his “revolution” threatened.
The leftist economist is widely popular among Ecuadoreans for his generous social spending but broadly criticized for intolerance of free expression.
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