Special Report - March 2007

It was only under strong pressure from massed protesters that the Ecuadorean congress finally agreed, on 31 January, to hold a referendum on whether to convene a constituent assembly 'fully empowered' to rewrite the country's constitution. The formation of a slender majority in favour of the referendum was only made possible when the government accepted a condition: that the constituent assembly be barred from cutting short the mandates of the president and the legislators.