ECUADORIAN presidential frontrunner Andre Arauz celebrated parliament’s rejection of a bid to privatise the country’s central bank on Monday as “a triumph for all the Ecuadorian people.”

The Bill submitted by President Lenin Moreno, which would also have allowed a $400 million loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was rejected by the legislative administrative council (CAL) as unconstitutional for a second time.

The national assembly’s governing body ruled that the 84 reforms to the Organic Monetary & Financial Code contained 14 unconstitutional elements. 

If it had passed, the legislation would have put corporate-sponsored directors on the board of the Central Bank of Ecuador, leading to the privatisation of monetary policy.

Mr Moreno’s opponents have accused him of seeking to extend his disastrous economic policies beyond his mandate, which ends in May.

Union for Hope presidential candidate Mr Arauz said the rejection of the Bill was “a triumph of all the Ecuadorean people and the country’s productive sectors against the interests of a few bankers.”

The second round of the presidential election takes place next month with the winner inaugurated on May 24. Mr Moreno, whose approval rating has dropped to just 7 per cent, did not stand.