The only assembly member who defended the proposal in plenary was Alexandra Ramón, the remaining thirteen interventions by assembly members from different legislative benches rejected the intention to amend the Constitution so that the director of the Galapagos Governing Council is determined by a popular election.
In the end, Assemblyman Fabricio Villamar proposed the archiving of the proposal, which had been worked by the Amendments Committee in a report for initial debate and presented by another Galapagos Assemblyman, Washington Paredes. The president of that roundtable committe, Elizabeth Cabezas joined the possibility of archiving.
During the debate, Marcela Aguiñaga said that the amendment would be creating a problem of governance in the Archipelago, and that, to think of a popularly elected position for a small population, would cause chaos in the governance of Galapagos.
Gabriela Larreátegui said that she would be electing a president parallel to the President of the Republic and the latter would not have the right to opinion, and that we should not give way to the political interests behind this.
Fernando Callejas added that this would be giving all-encompassing power to the Governing Council of Galapagos.
Assembly members like Rodrigo Collaguazo proposed an alternative reform so that the director appointed to the Governing Council is from Galapagos or has lived in recent years in the Archipelago, but would not be appointed by popular election.
The procedure returns to the Assembly’s Committee on Amendments. The project has a favorable report from the Constitutional Court.
Read the entire coverage from El Universo at bit.ly/0108eluniverso
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