Yet in Congress Mr Mahuad's allies in the market-oriented but populist Social Christian Party (PSC) say "No more taxes".
The best human rights defenders can hope for then is a regulatory regime that rewards PSC corporate responsibility while guaranteeing that contractors who engage in criminal misconduct find themselves in the docket.
Then came a New Zealander (DR) at 03 48 and an Australian regular (PSC) at 08 19.
The AU's commission of inquiry on South Sudan, headed by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, was expected to brief the body's peace and security council (PSC) at a meeting in Addis Ababa last week, but the PSC decided to defer the commission's report indefinitely, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
In the face of PSC opposition to his plans for wide-ranging changes to income and value-added taxes, Mr Mahuad adopted PSC proposals to suspend income tax completely from 1999 and replace it with a 1% tax on financial transactions which, at least until people learn how to avoid it, could bring in twice as much, some $600m ,3% of GDP.
PSC, DGE, CFSP, EUMS, CIVCOM – an endless stream of acronyms, drafts and position papers feeds the inner circle of the Brussels security apparatus.
But Mr Mahuad has blundered politically.In Congress, the government, closing the doors to other parties, concentrated on a pact with the market-oriented but populist Social Christian Party (PSC), whose votes give it a majority.
It could do so again; and he needs it anyway, if reform on paper is to become reform in fact.Two partners the PSC and the IMF will still be crucial.
In the fragmented Congress, Mr Mahuad's party is the largest block, and will probably hold the chair.He will still need PSC help, though, and even with it he will be short of a congressional majority.
It too is elected on May 31st, and the PSC is likely to dominate it.
But there is a political agenda, too: Guayas is controlled by the Social Christian Party (PSC), a group of powerful right-wing populists who have often been frustrated when trying to win national office.
