Ecuador assembly OKs draft constitution

The constituent assembly, elected to write a new constitution, backed the 444-article proposal by a vote of 94 to 32 in a late night ballot whose outcome had been expected.

President Rafael Correa's Alianza Pais party controls more than 60 percent of the assembly. The draft charter will now be submitted to a national referendum set for Sept. 28.

The new constitution would help wrest power from Ecuador's widely discredited traditional political parties and more equitably distribute wealth across the country, said Correa, a U.S.-trained economist who made such revisions a central part of his 2006 presidential campaign platform.

But his detractors say the charter would concentrate excessive power in Correa's hands, amounting to a virtual coronation of the self-avowed Christian socialist leader.

Annabella Azin, an assembly member with the opposition PRIAN party, said the constitution's "objective" is to keep Correa in power.

The charter would allow Correa to "control every part of our lives," Azin said.

But supporters waved Ecuadorean flags after the vote and shouted: "We don't want ... to be a North American colony."

One clause of the constitution would prohibit foreign military bases on Ecuadorean soil, meaning the U.S. lease for its Manta anti-drug air base would not be renewed when it expires next year.

The effort follows others by Correa's socialist allies Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia in seeking a constitutional rewrite that would let him extend his years in power--specifically by enabling Correa to run for two new, consecutive four-year terms.