Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa
celebrated Monday the approval of a draft for a new constitution that he had
advocated, dpa reported.
The leftist Correa commented to foreign media in Ecuador just hours after a
referendum on the proposed new constitution on Sunday passed with 64 per cent
of votes in favour, according to official results after roughly 80 per cent of
the ballots had been counted.
The new constitution calls for early presidential and legislative elections. It
also establishes free healthcare and education, and a more direct form of
democracy. It gives the president control over monetary policy - rather than
the central bank, as is currently the case.
For the first time, the constitution would provide for a one-time re-election
of the president.
Correa stressed that the new text requires no nationalization of natural
resources, because these already belong to the state, and noted that the
provision of free healthcare and education established in the new constitution
will be implemented based on "the availability of funds."
"There is great optimism and hope in the country," Correa noted.
He called for dialogue with the opposition, but in the face of recent upheaval
in Bolivia - where President Evo Morales commands a majority for similar reform
but where wealthy elites are fiercely resisting his moves - he warned that
"it is always possible for separatist elites to long for a world of their
own."
"I am an academic, I do not fear the discussion of ideas," he said.
Correa did not speak in concrete terms of the "citizens' revolution"
and "21st-century socialism" he has advocated in the past, but
stressed that South America is searching for social equality, sovereignty and
social justice.
New presidential elections are to be held in February under the new
constitution, but Correa was ambiguous about whether he would run for
reelection.
"I will be wherever the homeland needs me," he noted.
If Correa wins a four-year term in February, it could open the theoretical
prospect of his remaining in power until 2017. His first two years in power
since 2006 would not be counted.
The constitutional draft was Correa's most important election promise in the
2006 election.
Ahead of the referendum, the opposition charged that Correa wanted to increase
his powers and has blasted the draft constitution as a copy of the
"dictatorship" of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that will scare
off foreign investment and hamper broader economic success.