Some 300 police agents cordoned off Ecuador's unicameral Congress on Thursday, with an order not to allow entry to vehicles or people after the sacking of 57 legislators, according to dpa. Metal fences were erected around the building in the early hours, and the police presence increased by the hour. Ecuador's highest electoral court on Wednesday fired 57 opposition legislators for standing in the way of a referendum on rewriting the country's constitution - a move likely to provoke an institutional crisis only three months into leftist President Rafael Correa's tenure. The move comes after the country's opposition-controlled Congress sought to fire the electoral tribunal's president for announcing the referendum would be held on April 15. Congress insisted it had to first approve the referendum. A group of fired legislators met for over three hours at a hotel in Quito on Wednesday night to plan a strategy following the electoral tribunal's unprecedented decision, which was supported by Correa's government. With slogans like "Long live democracy" and "Down with dictatorship," the legislators did not give clues as to their immediate political activities. Correa's chief of staff, Gustavo Larrea, said the government supported the tribunal's move and would enforce the dismissals. The dispute surrounds a central campaign pledge of President Correa to drastically change the country's institutional make-up. Correa fielded no legislative candidates in the November elections in the hope of making a clean sweep away from the highly unpopular Congress which many regard as ineffective. But in so doing, he left opposition parties in the majority in parliament. Ecuador's opposition has since refused to back Correa's call for a special assembly to rewrite the constitution, prompting Correa to request a referendum which was granted by the country's electoral authority without seeking the parliament's approval. Ecuador's electoral tribunal on Wednesday instructed police to prevent the 57 opposition members - out of a total 100 - from entering the parliamentary building. A recent opinion poll pointed out that only 17 per cent of Ecuadorians are satisfied with their Congress.
