Ecuador presidential ceremony in doubt

The president-elect of Ecuador, Lucio Gutierrez, has threatened not to attend his own inauguration ceremony next week to protest against the system used to elect Congressional leaders.

Mr Gutierrez said he would ignore Congress and would instead be sworn in before the Ecuadorean people if the opposition-led Congress failed to elect a legislative leader.

Mr Gutierrez was speaking after opposition legislators refused to elect a leader in Congress.

The party with most representatives, the Christian Social Party, refused to take up the post as mandated by the constitution, in protest at what it says are partisan politics.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service