Ecuador president's party wins landslide victory in election

QUITO (Xinhua) -- The party that backs Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, won 70.14 percent of the vote in the nation's Sept. 30 Constituent Assembly election, Ecuador's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced on Monday.

With 90 percent of the votes counted, no other party won more than 10 percent of the vote for seats in the 130-member assembly that will rewrite the nation's constitution, the TSE said.

The closest rival to Correa's Proud and Sovereign Nation Alliance was former president Lucio Gutierrez's Patriotic Society Party, with 7.4 percent. Next was the Renewed National Institutional Action Party (Prian) which backs millionaire businessman Alvaro Noboa, with 6.32 percent. Other parties scored less than 3.6 percent of the votes.

Several deputies resigned on hearing the result because Correa has proposed to dissolve the opposition-dominated congress. The Constituent Assembly is set to begin work at the end of the month and draft a new constitution by April.

Correa has told the media that the assembly will set the terms of stable and fair politics in Ecuador by favoring the Ecuadorian people and reducing the power of traditional parties and elites.

Ecuador enjoys economic stability thanks to the nation's dollarization plan. However, it has a volatile political arena, having had seven presidents in the past 10 years. The last three elected presidents were deposed in coups or impeachments.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=154687

safeharbour