Ecuador's Congress will accept closure -lawmaker
By Alonso Soto
QUITO, Nov 30 (Reuters)- Ecuador's Congress is resigned to shutting down after an assembly ordered it closed until voters decide on a new constitution President Rafael Correa says will advance his leftist proposals, a top lawmaker said on Friday.
The 130-member assembly controlled by Correa's party decided during its opening session on Thursday to take over Congress' legislative powers, expanding the influence of Correa, who has vowed more state control over the economy.
Correa, a U.S.-trained economist, enjoys strong popular support after standing up to the political old guard many Ecuadoreans blame for instability. But his vows to restructure Ecuador's debt and a weak economy have worried Wall Street.
The assembly, which enjoys broad powers to overhaul state institutions, has up to eight months to draft a new constitution that must be ratified in a referendum. The opposition-dominated Congress had repeatedly clashed with Correa over his key laws.
"Ecuadoreans decided on this and now they will have to live with the consequences," Jorge Cevallos, the head of Congress, told Reuters. "We are not going to risk our lives over this ... Ecuadoreans must decide in the referendum."
Other congressional foes have vowed to stay in office, but a splintered opposition is expected to offer little resistance to the shutdown of Congress.
Alberto Acosta, the head of the assembly and close ally of Correa, told Reuters the body will create a 13-member commission to analyze bills that will be later approved by the entire body instead of the Congress.
"We will not push for more than five or six bills," said Acosta, declining to give more details.
Correa has said he wants to push legislation to strip the central bank's autonomy, scrap ceilings on current spending and increase government control over banks to consolidate what he calls his "citizens' revolution."
Correa, a former economy minister, ahs said he wants the assembly to call for early presidential next year and curb the influence of traditional political parties who he blames the Congress for attempting to sabotage his government's policies. (Editing by Patrick Markey and Mohammad Zargham)
