There is always a back story.

Dear Family and Friends,

Remember, when you see a selfie of two old folks....

This is what they looked like a few seconds before.

Happy Valentines Day

Love,

Nancy

Ecuador Election 2023

Dear Family and Friends,

We returned from the U.S. to Ecuador about 3 weeks ago.  We are happy to be back in the wonderful weather. 

Today, I have a guest writer for this post.  Last Sunday was election day in Ecuador.  Chuck voted in this election.  I did not.  Since he is involved in the political scene, I figured you all might be interested in how elections work down here.  Chuck offered to share with you about the voting process from first hand experience.

Take it away Chuck:

Ecuador Election 2023

Sunday, February 5th was election day here in Ecuador. All the mayors and provincial officers were on the ballot, as well as some proposed changes to the constitution.  

The process is so different from the USA, that I thought I would describe it to you.

Before the Election

In Ecuador, there are many political parties. It is easy to a new political party. There is a minimum number of signatures required, and there must be a convention or other process to select the candidates for a party.  

Sometimes, the candidate who emerges is the one who founded the party.  This candidate selection process was done this past August.

The parties submit their list of candidates to the national election commission (CNE) for review.

In October, the review was complete and several candidates were rejected. Here in Azuay province, 3 men were disqualified because a review of their records showed that they had not been paying their child support. One prominent woman was disqualified because she had changed party affiliation just before the August convention. The rules required that she be a party member since May.

Meanwhile, the president had proposed 8 changes to the constitution (designed to strengthen the central government at the expense of the legislature). These changes were submitted to the constitutional court. The wording was reviewed and refined by the court. The ballot measures were expressed as a short statement of the intent of the change and a yes or no question – Do you agree with blah blah.

The campaign season, which lasts for only one month, opened in January and closed 2 days before the election. There were informal parades, party members chatting up pedestrians, advertising on TV and radio, and posters all over town.

The dry law went into effect the Friday before the election and remained in effect until Sunday afternoon, after the polls closed. Bars were closed and no liquor was sold throughout the country.

(However, we had dinner on Friday at an unnamed restaurant where the doors were locked and the liquor flowed – don’t tell anyone).

There were two dry runs by the election officials with international observers present. Pictures of people moving ballot boxes to the counting stations were widely published to assure the citizens that the process would be transparent. Early voting was provided to prisoners and shut ins a couple of days before the election.

The Election and Results

You do not register to vote in Ecuador, the CNE has a record of all 18 million Ecuadorans. Each of us has a unique identification number which is printed on our identity card, which is called a cedula. Voting is mandatory for all citizens between 18 and 65 years of age, it is voluntary for those over 65.

I checked on line to see where to vote. It was a school in our neighborhood. There were hundreds of people voting at this school, and no parking for blocks around it. I could not find a picture of the hundreds of people in 2023, so here is a photo from 2021.

The polling places are in classrooms. Women voted in one building, while men were in the other. This is to reduce the chance that a spouse is influencing (forcing?) the voters choice. My classroom was on the second floor. There were solders guarding the entrances to each classroom.

I walked in and handed my cedula to the election official. He found me in his book, and I signed next to my name, cedula number, and my pre printed picture. At the next two tables I was handed a stack of paper ballots. They were quite large because they had colored photos of each candidate. One stack was for our province, Azuay, and the other was for the national issues.

I took my stacks of ballots to one of the secret voting booths. Mine had a chair, but this fellow had to stand.

After I marked my ballots, I deposited them in the collection boxes. I had to make sure the correct pile went into the proper box. Note that each box has a transparent window.

Then, I retrieved my cedula and was handed a card (with my picture) proving that I had voted. This card in necessary for dealing with government agencies and other transactions such as opening a bank account. People who did not vote must pay a fine to get a similar card. Outside the school, there were several vendors offering to laminate the voting certificate card in plastic for fifty cents. Since I am too old to be required to vote or show my card, I did not have mine laminated.

At the close of the day, the ballot collection boxes were sealed and the soldiers transported them to the tabulation building

The next morning we learned that in a very close race Cuenca has a new mayor, Christian Zamora. I think there was not a lot of interest in this race, more people left the ballot for mayor blank than voted for any of the candidates.

Since Christian Zamora is a man, the vice mayor must be a woman (and vise versa). She will be selected by the party.

Nationally, the results showed a massive shift to the left. The conservative party which has controlled Guayaquil for over 30 years was defeated. The new mayor is aligned with the party of former socialist president Rafael Correa. Many other cities, including Quito, also elected members of this party.

In addition to this shift to the left in local political power, all eight of the proposed constitutional changes were defeated. This is a major blow to our center-right president – I predict that he will have a difficult time surviving the two years until the next presidential election.