Daniela Chacón Arias, executive director at Fundación TANDEM and former Quito vice mayor and city council member: “It is baffling that a president with an approval rating of less than 20 percent would push for a referendum that will likely be an opportunity for voters to evaluate his term. It can only be understood as a political strategy to recover some credibility under the pretense that the questions will address citizens’ main concerns (especially security) and that it will help his ailing government. But if this is the president’s strategy, it is even more perplexing given that many constitutional experts have said that several questions are not likely to pass the review and approval of the Constitutional Court. The court has 20 days to issue its opinion, and only then will Ecuadoreans know which questions remain. The other problem this referendum could face is that citizens will go to the polls on the same day to vote for municipal authorities and members of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (which has the power to appoint heads of state agencies). The necessary public debate will be…”