Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa branded as absurd the presidential indefinite re-election, claiming that alternation in power is essential to democracy.

Correa told daily newspaper La Tercera he shares his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez' idea of "the 21st century socialism," but clarified that "what we are implementing in Ecuador is different from what is being implemented in Venezuela."

The Ecuadorian ruler, who is in Chile participating in the 17th Ibero-American Summit, told La Tercera he supports the idea of implementing presidential re-election once, as provided for under his proposed constitutional reform.
 
Unlike Correa's draft constitutional reform, the changes to the Venezuelan Constitution proposed by Chávez provide for the indefinite presidential re-election.