A press release from the Presidency’s Communication Secretariat detailed that adhesion of this new questionnaire is pivotal since it broadens the scope of action of the Executive in different areas including security, production and economy; plus, it gathers petitions and demands of all citizens and social groups.

In the new proposal for the popular consultation, Ecuadorians must answer if they agree with allowing the extradition of their fellow citizens, with the conditions, requirements and restrictions set in the Constitution.

Likewise, the questionnaire includes issues such as declaring as territories of national interest those areas where illegal mining is applied in order to stop such activity.

The Government will consult to grant pardons during the substantiation of criminal cases to officers of the National Police, Armed Forces or of the Security and Penitentiary Surveillance Corps who have been charged with a crime related to the use of force against criminal suspects.

According to the Deputy Government Minister Esteban Torres, this new questionnaire reflects the “citizen clamor,” and the contributions lately made by scholars, social and political groups that criticized the first set of questions.

omr/rgh/nta