ECUADOR
Elections to the 130-member Constituent Assembly took place on 30 September 2007. President Rafael Correa was elected in 2006 and pledged to dissolve the Congress, which he deemed to be "corrupt and incompetent". He said he would step down if his allies, including his own MPAIS (Movimiento Patria Altiva y Soberana) party, did not win a majority in the Constituent Assembly. Preliminary results showed that his allies had won 80 of the 130 seats at stake. Once it convenes on 29 November, the Assembly will have 180 days to draft a new constitution, which will subsequently have to be approved by a referendum within 45 days.

KENYA
On 22 October 2007, just a few hours before dissolving parliament for general elections scheduled for 27 December, President Mwai Kibaki signed into law 11 bills, including the Political Parties Bill. That bill was proposed by the President himself to parliament to provide guidelines for the registration, regulation and funding of political parties. It imposes stringent rules on party switching, whereby candidates who fail to win a nomination in a particular party, and who subsequently wish to switch to another party, have to respect a tight deadline for the submission of candidatures.

KYRGYZSTAN
On 14 September 2007, the Constitutional Court invalidated the latest version of the constitution dated 8 November and 30 December 2006 (see issue No. 24, December 2006 and No. 25, April 2007) and restored the February 2003 Constitution, which had been adopted by a referendum. The Court argued that when adopting the 2006 constitutional amendments, the parliament had exceeded its powers and stated that any modifications to the Constitution could be made only by referendum. On 18 September, the parliament passed a vote of no-confidence in the Constitutional Court, insisting that such a matter did not fall within the Court's purview.

On 19 September 2007, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev called a nationwide referendum for 21 October on amending the Constitution and the Electoral Code. The proposed changes would include applying the party-list system (proportional representation system) to all seats in an enlarged 90- seat parliament (up from 75). In his view, such a move would make the country’s political system more democratic. Opposition members criticized the move, accusing President Bakiyev of trying to control both the executive and legislative branches.

Over 80 per cent of the 2.7 million eligible voters turned out for the referendum. Over 75 per cent of the voters approved the amendments to the Constitution and the Electoral Code. On 23 October, President Bakiyev promulgated the revised constitution and called early parliamentary elections for 16 December.

MONTENEGRO
On 19 October 2007, parliament adopted a new Constitution, which replaced the 1992 one. Of the 76 members present, 55 voted for the text while 21 voted against it. Four of the five members representing the Albanian minority abstained from voting; the other was absent. The Serb List (comprising the Serb People's Party, the Serbian Radical Party, the Democratic Party of Unity, and the People's Socialist Party, which took 11 seats in the previous elections held in September 2006) criticized the new Constitution, calling it discriminatory and sweeping in its categorizations. The Bosniac Party supported the Constitution, praising the mechanisms contained therein for enhanced protection of minority rights and the designation of the Bosniac language as the official language. On 22 October, parliament officially proclaimed the new Constitution.

MYANMAR
On 3 September 2007, the National Convention (NC - established by military leader Gen. Than Shwe in January 1993) accomplished the first step of the 2003 Roadmap to Democracy by laying down the basic principles for the drafting of a new constitution. The NC had ceased to function in November 1995 when the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) walked out due to serious differences over the basic principles of the future constitution The Roadmap had been established by the military administration following mounting international and national pressure. It should pave the way for normal democratic life after the adoption of a new constitution.

Among other things, the draft constitution provides for a President as the Head of State and a bicameral parliament comprising a House of Representatives and a House of Nationalities. It also provides for a strong role for the military both in the parliament and in the government. The military would be entitled to 20 per cent of the seats in parliament appointed by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, as well as four key ministerial portfolios (defence, security, home affairs and border affairs).

TURKEY
On 10 May, parliament adopted a series of constitutional amendments. The reforms included a once-renewable fiveyear presidential mandate (instead of the current single seven-year term), direct election of the president (replacing the current election by parliament), and a four-year term for parliament (down from five years). On 25 May, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer vetoed the amendments and sent them back to parliament for reconsideration, arguing that a direct presidential election could disrupt the balance of power in the country. Parliament passed the amendments for the second time, and Mr. Sezer called a referendum for 21 October. In all, 67.51 per cent of the 42 million registered voters participated in the referendum, with 68.95 per cent approving the constitutional amendments as proposed by the parliament in May.

ZIMBABWE
In August 2007, President Robert Mugabe (who has been in power since 1980) proposed to hold joint parliamentary and presidential polls in March 2008. He also proposed to increase the statutory number of members in the House of Assembly (lower chamber) from 150 to 210 (including 30 presidential appointees) and revise the boundaries to increase the number of members elected in rural areas (the traditional stronghold of his ZANU-PF party) his at the expense of urban areas, where the opposition has stronger support. The President later agreed to withdraw the proposal to include 30 presidential appointees. In response, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party dropped its demands for a new constitution before the 2008 elections. The House of Assembly and the Senate passed the amendments on 18 and 25 September respectively. The amendments also allows parliament to elect a new president of the country if the incumbent does not serve a full term. Given that the parliament is controlled by the ZANU-PF party, such an amendment is expected to give President Robert Mugabe the authority to decide on his successor even before the next presidential elections.