MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

An “ordinary” request: Correa asks all his ministers to hand in their letters of resignation

Rafael Correa calls for all his ministers to resign to make arragements for the February elections.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has called for the resignation of all his ministers, “an ordinary practice” as the Executive is set to evaluate the state of things, the National Secretariat of Communication (Secom) said Wednesday.

 In a statement, Secom recalled that ministers and secretaries of state “are officials of free appointment and removal” and stressed that “the evaluation has been permanent” and as in previous years, President Rafael Correa will decide in December “the changes that are pertinent,” adds the communique.

Correa, speaking to reporters, said Wednesday that he will take “as long as necessary” to decide on the composition of the Cabinet and said that some ministers “are specialists in the field,” so he is considering assigning them full time to work on the February 2017 elections campaign. He indicated that “the resignation of every” minister is requested to give him “the freedom to choose” and commented that a “portfolio by portfolio” evaluation will be carried out.

“We will see who is most useful in the campaign,” he added, adding that “the best campaign” that can be done “is to administer the country extremely well until the February elections and, obviously, to hand over the government”.

In his opinion, the situation of the country has improved and there is “a clear revival of the economy”, as well as the creation of employment, so he predicted that “2017 will be a year of growth.”

The interior ministers, José Serrano; Education, Augusto Espinosa, and Electricidad, Esteban Albornoz, resigned their posts in mid-January to be candidates for the pro-government Alianza País (AP) movement in the elections.

Ecuador will hold elections on February 19, 2017 to renew Parliament and elect the president to replace the leftist Correa, who has remained in power for the last ten years.