Historic Vote in Ecuador Set for April 15th

President Correa's campaign promise of a constituent assembly is inching toward becoming a reality. The first step is a "consulta popular" or national referendum in order for the people to decide  whether or not to invoke a constituent assembly. The language of the referendum, set for April 15th, gives the assembly full power to write a new constitution and replace the current political system. Their is wide popular support for the assembly. The government has already begun construction of the meeting hall for the constituent assembly.
The entrenched political class, who stand to lose the most if the status quo is swept away by the assembly, has not gone along quietly with the process. The president invoked his constitution power to request the "consulta popular".  The Tribunal Suprema Electoral (TSE) honored his request, setting the date for April 15th, and allocating the funds to hold the referendum. The controlling block of parties in the congress responded by attempting to replace the president of the TSE. The TSE then suspended for one year the 57 members who voted in favor of replacing the TSE president. This caused a problem for the congress, since they no longer had enough members for a quorum. The suspended members and the president of the congress have made several unsuccessful legal appeals to the Tribunal Constitucional, the only entity with the power to overrule the TSE. The Correa administration appointed 7 replacement members of congress in order to have enough members for a quorum, but the remaining members from the sanctioned parties have boycotted the sessions, continuing the deadlock. So for now the entire country is waiting to see the outcome fo the referendum next week.