After the call for the popular consultation and referendum on April 21, 2024, different sectors of Ecuadorian society present their agreements and disagreements with the issues that will be defined by vote.
President Daniel Noboa maintains his agenda of fulfilling electoral promises.
With the activation and call of the popular consultation and referendum, the president can now signal that he fulfilled another of his campaign proposals.
Since the return of democracy to Ecuador, in 1978, Citizens have been summoned to consultations on 13 occasions, including the one recently organized by the National Electoral Council (CNE) for April 21, 2024which consists, for the moment, of 10 questions proposed by President Daniel Noboa.
There is a possibility that one more question will be includedas part of the mechanism for reform of the Constitution to allow the Armed Forces to act in the control of securitybeyond the state of emergency decrees.
The topic of the current consultation and referendum has generated, since its presentation to the Constitutional Court, important questions about its relevance and the reasons for the callbecause for some sectors this It would be a tool to continue maintaining the presidential image in a high profilebefore starting the 2025 electoral campaign.
The debate that is beginning to run through the streets of Ecuador is about the relevance or not of the consultation. For sectors of civil society, The topics to be consulted do not generate transcendental changes in the country; while for union sectors and social movements, questions about international arbitration and fixed-term and hourly employment would become a regression of the rights already achieved by workers and citizens.
Against regression
The president of the Unitary Workers’ Front (FUT), José Villavicencio, told LA HORA that the consultation proposed by President Daniel Noboa “is not necessary” in the current moments.
He added that the Resources that must be invested for its realization can be used for the internal armed conflict waged by the Armed Forces and the National Police against organized crime and drug trafficking.
Villavicencio highlighted that “Those resources that you want to invest in the consultation should be used for the National Police, the Armed Forces, or in the issue of addressing the social debt in some way. that Ecuador maintains with its citizens, in education and health.”
For the union leader, the current consultation called for April 21, 2024 by the CNE“what you are looking for is an early campaign by President Daniel Noboa.”
He also highlighted the FUT’s rejection of questions about international arbitration and the hiring of hourly and fixed-term workers, pointing out that these actions are a regression against the rights already achieved by workers to obtain “decent jobs.”
“We confirm the fact that it is not correct to return to hourly work and a fixed-term contractbecause obviously this does not guarantee ‘decent employment’“, nor the economic reactivation in our country,” stated José Villavicencio.
He recalled that while the fixed-term contract was in force, until 2015, in the country 60% of the workers under this figure did not have the right to collective bargaining. “People who were hired for one year did not have the right to vacations or reserve funds. It is not a contract that guarantees stability”.
When asked what the FUT position will be, Villavicencio made it clear that “to the question about the fixed-term contract and hourly workand the question about international arbitration, we will say no”.
A new opportunity
Fausto Camacho, from the Voces por la Democracia collective, told LA HORA that although The consultation presented does not provide fundamental solutions to the current problem that affects citizens, It is a new opportunity for Ecuadorian society to express itself.
When asked if the consultation could meet citizen expectations of a change, Camacho pointed out that “It doesn’t fill it at all. There is an institutional crisis that is demonstrated and you have to find how to change it. But It is an issue that goes beyond consultation, the judicial system or the party system.”
For Fausto Camacho, Ecuador’s problems have as their origin “the exercise of ethics in public positions, “If officials had acted under the current constitutional norms, the crisis would not be what it is.”
He indicated that from the collective Voices for Democracy remain open to developing a debate among all sectors of the country, with the aim of generating an agenda for change to improve the exercise of politics.
“What we have proposed to the country is this: change people’s behavior, and this changes to the extent that they learn in a real way to submit to the normto the Constitution, to the law, and not interpret it in favor of a particular interest“, said. (ILS)
Social movements in consultation
Within the Social and indigenous movements have also been reluctant to show their support for the popular consultation proposed by President Daniel Noboa, although for the moment they have not presented a definitive position on the matter.
In January 2024, during a press conference, The president of Conaie, Leonidas Iza, showed his rejection of the consultationconsidering it unnecessary and indicating that all questions could be resolved through the National Assembly.
For its part, the board of directors of the National Confederation of Peasant, Indigenous and Negras (Fenocin), remains in consultation with grassroots organizations to establish a position on the matter.
Sources close to the organization explained to LA HORA that after these processes it is expected make a consensus decision, because at the moment There are several different points of view on the topic of the consultation and its relevance.
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