Ecuador's president on Thursday said Congress broke the law when it rejected a shortlist of candidates for attorney general in the continuing battle over control of the Andean nation's courts. The government has asked the Constitutional Tribunal to overrule Wednesday's vote, President Lucio Gutierrez's office said in a statement. The dispute has strained the president's shaky congressional majority and delayed the consideration of key legislation. It began in December when Congress, acting at the behest of the president, voted to replace the entire Supreme Court. The opposition says the president wants to seize the judiciary to establish dictatorial control. Gutierrez, a former army colonel who says the old Supreme Court was biased against him, wants a referendum to choose a new selection method for judges. The referendum would ask if voters want high court judges to be chosen by a 13-member panel made up of lawyers, unions and other sectors of civil society. The United Nations has said judicial independence has been violated in Ecuador and has called for "the rule of law" to be restored. --More 0154 Local Time 2254 GMT
