Ecuador to hold runoff election next April 13th

teleSUR English

*Electoral authorities forecast an over 83% turnout *General elections take place amidst security, political and social crisis Gonzalez and Noboa go to runoff election with 43 and 44% of the votes, *respectively *Candidate Luisa Gonzalez describes electoral results as a great victory

Transcript

00:00Let's continue with the analysis. A day after Sunday's general elections in Ecuador, to that end,

00:04we are joined by Maria Fernanda Andrade from Acción Jurídica Popular of Ecuador.

00:10Welcome, Maria, to From the South.

00:14Thank you for having me. Nice to meet you.

00:17It's a pleasure, Maria. Nice to meet you, too. How can we analyze Sunday's results?

00:22Were there any surprises? Any in-boat behavior, turnout, or regional breakdowns?

00:30Well, we have been living in Ecuador on a rough political and social environment that takes shape

00:36in an electoral process with many news, such as deaths, threats to candidates, raids on their

00:44homes, soldiers removing campaign posters of Lisa González, police officers surrounding candidates.

00:49All of these situations are unprecedented in our country. We have a president of Consejo

00:55Nacional Electoral, National Electoral Council, who has remained during three governments.

01:02All this is integrated in a national context of general violence. We have the highest rates

01:09of extreme poverty, unemployment, forced migration. So we are having these new experiences

01:16here in Ecuador, and all this electoral process has been very irregular.

01:26In your opinion, what issues, Maria, sorry, in your opinion, what issues, economy, security,

01:32institutional trust, things like that, have dominated voters' priority, and how did they

01:35impact the outcome?

01:39Yeah. We have to say that the president of the republic has not obeyed the constitution,

01:45but not retired from his duties as president. There has been an unequal investment of campaign

01:52funds. According to a legal demand, Novo has campaigned and used state funds. It means

01:58budget from Ecuadorians. We have to say that the electoral trends of young people in the world,

02:04in general, is a very important phenomenon to take into account. They are the ones who fuel

02:09the processes of these races of fascism. As to the 50% who are voting for the conservative wing,

02:18it is necessary to name that choice, and that is called in Ecuador, military and fascist

02:24preference. We are having the worst statistics as poverty and unemployment for a whole history,

02:31but some people who voted for ADN, the president's party, read this as a result of Correa's

02:39administration, some of them. This segment of people is preferring to accept the word violence

02:44on the streets than a supposed dictatorship of Correa. In the year 2024, there were 7,000 deaths

02:55and only in January of this year, there were almost 800 violent deaths. We think they are

03:02switching the dictatorship from one who improves health and poverty to one who sells a speech of

03:10liberty and richness that all we know comes from human exploitation and natural resources.

03:20We are having a polarised society, I think, which is the reflect of how the modern world

03:25is divided by a neo-liberalist illusion in where fascism is taking place in terms of

03:31offering security and stability with authorism, but not real peace, education and community life.

03:40I think now we have a work to do. I think the union of left-wing parties is necessary,

03:49as well as the social organisation. As Ecuador goes to April's run of elections, Maria,

03:55what do you believe both candidates will do different or not from the first-round campaigns?

04:00I think this time, there's a bridge between the progressive wing and the social movement,

04:07and that bridge is Leonidas Issa, representative of Pachacutic, who is third in the list of

04:13candidates. The social movement this time, as in 2019 and 2022, will take advantage of the

04:20prominence of the indigenous movement and Issa for the unity of the left. I think

04:27this time is the moment for the left-wing to get together and to work, to be near to the

04:36social needs. That's the important thing. I think it's essential for Luisa González to work into

04:47capacitations and educations in terms of what is happening really with our

04:53real situation, with our rights. It's important to know that capitalism is the cause for all

05:03of our society's destruction. We are having a narco-state now, and we have to think deeply

05:11about it. I think, on the other hand, on the other side, maybe Nubola is going to

05:20take advantage of the domination into the media, into social media, to captivate the young voters.

05:40I think the speech of security, of liberty, is going to win, to take place in

05:48general, in minds, in people's minds. As you were referring to other candidates,

05:54like Leonidas Issa, there were 16 people in total running for this race. How will the 14

06:00others, including Leonidas Issa, impact the runoff? Could their endorsements sway the election?

06:06She has 4 to 6 percent so far, so we think that this is an important part of people,

06:16this important segment of people, progressives, people and people of the left side, so it's

06:26important they vote. I think those voters came from this idea of the renaissance of the left

06:40side, of the left wing, so it will be important, above all, that the leader, the real leaders,

06:49Lisa González and Issa, can get together, can reunite and work together for their programs,

06:59so that we can, as people, as Ecuadorians, can receive, can accept one real left program.

07:09I consider it's not too much people, it's 4 or 6 percent for Issa, but it's very important that

07:19all the left parties got to get together. Thank you, Maria, for your time here

07:28and from the South, for sharing your insights and inputs with us and our audience.

07:34Good to see you. A pleasure to have you, Maria.

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