Ecuador’s top court blocks Noboa’s referendum decree, president issues new orders
Ecuador’s Constitutional Court has suspended a decree by President Daniel Noboa aimed at calling a referendum on whether to establish a Constituent Assembly. The decision has intensified the standoff between the executive and the judiciary, with Noboa quickly responding by issuing new decrees to push ahead with the plan.
On Friday evening, the Court announced it had received five challenges to Noboa’s decree 148 and temporarily halted it while reviewing the constitutional complaints. The judges said the suspension was necessary “to prevent irreversible effects that could endanger democracy, the rule of law and citizens’ rights”.
Earlier, the Court had reminded the president that “no authority may disregard constitutional procedures”, a reference to the requirement that referendum questions must be reviewed by the Court before being put to a vote. Noboa had attempted to bypass this process.
In defiance, the president issued decree 153 on Saturday, repealing the suspended order but again calling for a referendum on a Constituent Assembly. He argued that the Constitution empowers him to call such a vote directly and dismissed the need for “additional requirements”.
The dispute comes as tensions grow between Noboa and the Constitutional Court. Earlier this week, the president accused the judges of “pure political activism” after they struck down several questions he had proposed for another referendum later this year. One question the Court did approve, however, asks voters whether to lift the constitutional ban on foreign military bases — a controversial measure Noboa claims is necessary to combat organised crime.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
