Ecuador | Analysis of 2025 elections for the Ecuadorian diaspora - video Dailymotion

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In the framework of the 2025 General Elections of Ecuador, we interview political scientist Ramon Mendez,  to discuss the political and social climate of the country leading up to this country. teleSUR

Transcript

00:00And also in the context of Ecuador's general elections, let's welcome political scientist Ramon Mendes,

00:05mentioned in journalism by the City College of New York. Hi, Ramon, and thank you very much for joining us today.

00:12Hi, good evening. It's a pleasure to be here.

00:14As the country awaits the official results of the elections, let's recall that there are 16 candidates running for president.

00:21However, there are two on the front line, current president Daniel Novoa and also Luisa González from the leftist

00:27citizen revolution movement, who are facing each other once again after the

00:322023 early elections. What has changed, in your opinion, and how would you describe both candidacies at this point?

00:40The main thing that has changed is that the security crisis has worsened, the economy has worsened,

00:48immigration,

00:49immigration rather, has skyrocketed. We had over a hundred thousand

00:54Ecuadorians detected at the border of the U.S.

00:57last year. Detected. There's many more that were not detected. So the situation,

01:03the society, the social fabric has been ripping apart and also

01:09the society doesn't find any solutions in the president, Novoa.

01:14Nevertheless, the support from the oligarchy, the support from the establishment, the support from other right-wing parties that

01:22simply do not want Correísmo to be back in power and to make them pay taxes, essentially follow the law.

01:28So there is some support

01:30from, for Novoa, even though the situation in the country is for the whole world to see that it has worsened.

01:38Also, we've seen Luisa González taking her political campaigns to the streets to be close to the people,

01:44while Novoa stayed indoors releasing his electoral campaign on social media.

01:48How could those different approaches be decisive on this election's outcome?

01:54Well, the mass of the Citizens' Revolution, that 30%

01:59base that they have is, you know, it's mostly working class,

02:02it's mostly going into the neighborhoods, the urban areas where the

02:08state is not reaching, right, where there is no access to good health or there is no access to good education.

02:14So that type of on the street, you know, walking with the people, it's always going to be more of a

02:22natural way of doing campaign for a leftist party, in this case the Citizens' Revolution. Of course, President Novoa

02:29being part of the wealthiest family in Ecuador, having all these connections with media, and of course having

02:35an unlimited amount of money to just do campaign at the same time that he's in office,

02:41then, of course, the balance, it's very difficult, especially when we think about the young population.

02:47Now, let's remember, after the 2008 Constitution of Ecuador, which was created under the presidency of Rafael Correa,

02:54La Constituyente, as it's called in Spanish,

02:58after that, 16-year-olds were able to vote, if they wanted to.

03:03Voting in Ecuador is compulsory, it's obligatory for 18-year-olds and older people, adults, right,

03:09but is optional for 16- to 18-year-olds. So this mass of folks,

03:15young people who are on TikTok, who are on different types of social media, right,

03:20if they choose to vote right now, their main option is Novoa, because they don't have to pay

03:27the bills, right, they don't have to pay for gas, necessarily. They do see insecurity, they do see a lack of options,

03:34that's why they're emigrating, but those that are in the country,

03:37they most likely, they also want to vote for Novoa. Let's not forget, a 16-year-old today,

03:44when President Novoa took off, when President Correa took office in 2007, you know, they weren't even born.

03:52So, a lot of these young folks do not remember

03:56their Citizens' Revolution, do not remember what that government was like, and that's the main population that in social media

04:03President Novoa is targeting.

04:05Luisa González has denounced the attempts of the extreme right of the country to undermine her candidacy.

04:10You mentioned the media, and I wanted to ask you, what's the role played by

04:14news media and social media in those attempts by the far-right intentions and efforts?

04:20Well, all of the media, even when Rafael Correa was president, all of the established media is part of the right wing,

04:27it's part of the oligarchy. No different than from other countries in Latin America.

04:32Ecuador did not have a public television until Rafael Correa was president, something that was normal for

04:39every other country in the world, essentially. So, social media, and mainly established media,

04:46they play a huge factor. Let's not forget, older folks tend to watch the news and the main TV channels,

04:52which I'm not gonna name, but the main three or four TV channels are all

04:57going against Citizens' Revolution and supporting Novoa. Now, there have been a couple of editorials here and there

05:05that do take jabs at President Novoa, but nothing too serious.

05:11The main thing that we have to think about is also that the immigrant population votes. I'm currently in New York,

05:17I'm an assemblyman until today, actually, for the migrants, representing them in the National Assembly of Ecuador

05:24with everything that that entails, yet a lot of people are afraid to go vote here in the U.S. for Ecuadorian elections

05:32because of the deportations that are going on, right? So that also creates disenfranchisement.

05:37In Venezuela, President Novoa has issues in recognizing the democratically elected government of Maduro,

05:45and there is no relationship in that sense, so over 9,000 Ecuadorians that live, that reside in Venezuela

05:52will not get to vote. And those people, those Ecuadorians living in Venezuela for decades,

05:59those are most likely, as we have seen in the last elections, people who would vote for the Citizens' Revolution.

06:05So those are the main issues of disenfranchisement, but they are targeted more than anything to the diaspora.

06:13The social media that is done in Ecuador also reaches the diaspora, so we have to also realize

06:18that even though there is a lot of immigration recently as well, especially to the U.S.,

06:22these folks still think the same way they thought in Ecuador, right?

06:27Very similar to other countries' diaspora who migrate, and yet they support the reactionary right-wing.

06:33It's very similar, so let's just hope that this disenfranchisement has happened directly in Venezuela

06:40through the actions of Daniel Novoa, and indirectly in the U.S. through the actions, in this case, of the U.S. government.

06:47So the media plays a strong role, and let's hope that they do not obscure the actual,

06:55they do not overshadow the actual will of the people.

06:59Thank you. Thank you very much, Ramon, for all your time hearing from the South

07:03and your remarks here in this context of these elections in Ecuador.

07:09No, thank you, and I hope the people of Ecuador is the one that wins,

07:15and that we can have peace and stability in the region.

Ecuador | Analysis of 2025 elections for the Ecuadorian diaspora

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