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News > Latin America

Popularity of Ecuador's President Correa Confirmed by CNN Poll

  • Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa gestures as he addresses a television broadcast to the nation from Carondelet Palace in Quito June 15, 2015.

    Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa gestures as he addresses a television broadcast to the nation from Carondelet Palace in Quito June 15, 2015. | Photo: Reuters

Published 17 June 2015
Opinion

The survey takes place after several days of anti-government protests over two proposed bills to increase taxes for the very wealthy.

Ecuador’s President would win a recall referendum if it were held today, a poll by CNN Spanish found Tuesday.

The news network launched the poll ahead of an interview with the anti-Correa mayor of Ecuador’s largest city of Guayaquil, asking viewers if the Ecuadorean leader would win a vote to revoke his mandate or not.

According to the Ecuadorean constitution, the population is able to revoke the mandate of any elected official through a vote initiated though a petition process.

After 24 hours of voting, 60.1 percent of Ecuadoreans said Correa would win, while 39.9 said he would be recalled.

The poll complimented the interview by the international television station of Jaime Nebot, mayor of port city Guayaquil. Nebot is one of various opposition leaders who have called for protests over two bills that would increase inheritance and capital gains taxes on the top 2 percent of wealthy Ecuadoreans.

Some of the right-wing demonstrations in the Andean nation turned violent.

RELATED: Right-Wing Attack on Ecuador’s Democracy

On Monday, Correa announced that the vote on the bills would be temporarily delayed in order to launch a national debate on wealth distribution and to avoid violence, including the possibility of another coup, like the failed attempt on Sept. 30, 2010.

In a second poll, 73 percent of people said that Correa did not stall the legislation on inheritance and capital gains taxes out of fear of opposition demonstrations.

Ecuadorean pollsters have consistently put Correa's approval rating between 60 and 85 percent, making him one of the region's most popular leaders.

After becoming president in 2007, Correa’s “Citizens’ Revolution” has positioned Ecuador as one of the most stable economies in Latin America, after decades of turmoil, including the 1999 financial crisis prompted by a bank bailout, which resulted in mass unemployment, inflation and poverty.

Correa’s left-wing government has undertaken a series of reforms which have taken an estimated 1.1 million people out of poverty.

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