Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

August 10 is a highly symbolic date in Ecuador, as it marks the bicentennial of the country's independence and the 30th anniversary of the return to democracy. For the first time since 1979, a President was elected in just one round, with a majority of around 51%.

The National Assembly took office on the 1st. Subsequently, on August 10, it elected the presidents and vice presidents of the 11 parliamentary commissions. Because the government’s political movement, Movimiento País, does not have a majority in the Assembly (just 61 seats of the 124 in total), it was forced to make political alliances with four other political groupings. Therefore they were able to dominate the majority of the commissions.

Code of Democracy

Since August, the Executive has submitted a high number of bills to the National Assembly, such as the law on higher education, a media bill, and legislation pertaining to territory and decentralization. An important bill that had already been approved before the installation of the new Assembly, is the Code of Democracy, which consists of a new law on political organizations and a new electoral law. The Code was approved by the temporary legislative commission of the Constituent Assembly and came into force right after the elections.

NIMDs partner in Ecuador, Ágora Democrática, has helped draft the Code. According to the new law, all political groupings are required to reregister. Before the next planned elections in 2014, all political groupings have to transform themselves into official political organisations with mechanisms for accountability, member registration, gender equality quotas, transparency of finances, party discipline and internal party democracy in place.

The Constitution in Practice

With the approval of the new Constitution, the citizens of Ecuador have agreed on a more participatory form of democracy. Next to the three usual state powers (Executive, Legislative and the Judiciary), two new institutions were introduced: the Transparency and Social Control Body and finally an Electoral Council, in which citizens are able to participate directly. As yet, citizens are largely unaware as to how these institutions function in practice. Therefore, Ágora Democrática initiated a project to raise public awareness about the new constitution. Right after the elections, it started broadcasting radio programmes through a network of 42 rural radio stations (CORAPE). Every week, the radio programme addresses a specific issue of the new constitution, explaining the new rights and obligations of citizens. The radio programmes are supported with a series of twelve bulletins, which are distributed through a national newspaper, also explaining the content of the Constitution. The last bulletin will be issued on the 15th of September. Until the end of December, workshops will be held in eight provinces, to grant citizens an opportunity to discuss the Constitution politicians.

Ágora Democrática (NIMD-IDEA)

Ágora Democrática is a joint programme of NIMD and IDEA. It started its work in 2006, in the year that Rafael Correa was elected as President for the first time. Since then, its work has focused on the Constituent Assembly, offering technical support on issues as political reform, media policy and gender issues. In addition it has worked with a network of rural radio stations to inform citizens about the new Constituion and other political reforms. This project, coined “The Constitution in Practice”, is partly financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada.