Landslide vote reinstates term limits that the former president had eliminated from the constitution in 2015

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Ecuadorians voted by a landslide to limit presidents to two terms in a nationwide referendum that delivered a blow to the former president Rafael Correa’s hopes of returning to power.

Results from Sunday’s balloting showed voters approved by an almost two-to-one margin a measure reinstating the term limits that Correa eliminated from the constitution in 2015.

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Lenín Moreno, who was a protege of Correa until taking office as president last year, hailed the results as a triumph for Ecuador’s democracy. Correa warned that they would usher in a new period of political instability.

The two men have been feuding bitterly almost since Moreno took office last year and quickly extended an olive branch to business leaders and indigenous groups who were bullied by Correa, a leftist firebrand.

“The days of confrontation are behind us,” a triumphant Moreno said in televised remarks with his cabinet at the presidential palace. “It’s time to embrace each other.”

Correa tried to put a positive spin on the results, saying the 36% of voters opposing term limits show that his political movement remains the most dominant in Ecuador. To prevail, Moreno relied heavily on an alliance with conservative opposition parties whose support may be in doubt.

“It’s going to be very difficult for a mediocre person like Lenín Moreno to keep everyone happy,” Correa told Venezuela’s Telesur network. “The only thing that unites these people is their hatred of Correa, not even love of country.”

Six other government-backed proposals on the ballot, some of them seeking to reduce Correa’s influence, also easily passed.

One would give Moreno more authority over a council that determines who can lead some of the nation’s most important institutions. Another would bar officials convicted of corruption from seeking office – a clause that apparently would apply to the former vice-president Jorge Glas, another Correa ally who was recently convicted of corruption.

Another would strengthen restrictions on mining by banning it entirely in protected areas, indigenous territory and cities.

The referendum bucks a trend in several Latin American countries, where leaders have pushed for constitutional amendments that would let them stay in power longer, sometimes indefinitely.

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In Bolivia, a court recently paved the way for the left-leaning president, Evo Morales, to run for a fourth term despite a voter referendum that rejected it. Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolás Maduro, is running for office in an election that opposition leaders consider illegitimate.



And in Honduras, the conservative president, Juan Orlando Hernández, was recently sworn in for a second term after the supreme court ruled that a constitutional ban on re-election violated his rights.

Correa governed Ecuador from 2007 to 2017, winning the loyalty of millions of poor Ecuadorians with generous health and social programs.

But he feuded with the business community, the news media, environmentalists and indigenous groups, pushing through measures that consolidated executive power and expanded mineral exploration in indigenous territories.

Moreno, a paraplegic since being shot in 1998, is enjoying a near 70% approval rating.