Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa expressed his confidence in citizen support for the constitutional referendum and popular consultation called by his government for next Sunday, November 16.
«This is not how I will write the Constitution, it will be 80 constituent assembly members who will give shape to it, in case the question wins on the 16th, and those assembly members who will be elected by the people (...) will give form to the Constitution,» added Noboa.
«One triumphs when the results are announced. For now, one has to continue talking with the people,» said the head of state in an interview for radio Sucre in the coastal city of Guayaquil (southwest).
Noboa enjoys a temporary leave from November 9 to 13, granted by the National Assembly (Parliament), to campaign in favor of the plebiscite promoted by his Government.
The Ecuadorian president has said that the leave will allow him to explain to the citizenship the motivations and reasons that support the popular consultation and the constitutional referendum, without committing any electoral offense.
Ecuador has been in an electoral campaign since last November 1, a period that will extend until tomorrow, November 13.
A total of 16 political and social organizations are authorized to carry out proselytism in favor of or against the four questions included in the plebiscite, which will serve as a political thermometer of support for Noboa's Government.
More than 13.9 million Ecuadorians are called to the polls to pronounce themselves in the popular consultation as to whether or not they agree to call and install a Constituent Assembly to draft a new Constitution.
Voters will also have to answer «Yes» or «No» in a constitutional referendum that poses three questions related to eliminating the prohibition on establishing foreign military bases in Ecuador, reducing the number of legislators, and eliminating state funding to political parties.
«Instead of having a proactive Constitution, it is a Constitution of punishment,» he pointed out.
The head of state reiterated this Wednesday the need to reform the Constitution in force since 2008, promoted during the government of then President Rafael Correa (2007-2017).
«We have a Constitution that has a lot of negative (...) a lot of prohibition.» «I feel optimistic.»
