“Clear defeat” to Daniel Noboa

QUITO (EFE).— The former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa (2007-2017) assured that the popular consultation held yesterday Sunday represented a victory for the people and a brake on the current president, businessman Daniel Noboa, who promoted the vote for the referendum on security , justice, investments and employment.

Correa, in a press statement organized by his political party, Revolución Ciudadana (RC), pointed out that based on the results, the Executive has lost two key questions of the eleven that made up the consultation: those referring to international arbitration in investments and hourly employment contracts.

According to an exit poll by the company Infinity Estrategas, the “No” won with 59.44% of the votes on the issue of international arbitrations and with 65.91% on the proposal for hourly contracts.

According to Correa, who lives in Belgium and appeared before the press by videoconference, the victory of the “No” in those two questions is a “clear defeat” for Noboa.

And, for the leader of the Citizen Revolution, the other nine questions, referring to security and justice, were part of an “absolutely unnecessary consultation,” because the reforms they sought are processed in the National Assembly.

“We should never have gone through this” because the consultation was carried out at a complex time for the country, which is suffering from an energy crisis with extensive periods of electricity rationing on a national scale, he added.

Correa added that the question of the application of international arbitrations to investments and the possibility that companies can hire hourly workers directly benefited Noboa, because it has companies “registered abroad” and in the country.

“The Ecuadorian people have put a stop to an aspiring dictator,” added Correa, who said that the vote shows a clear defeat of an improvised one.

Correa, who governed Ecuador between 2007 and 2017, said that yesterday’s result also harbors hope that Ecuador will return in the future “to a path of progress” with an administration that works for “the common good.”