Ecuador

Latin America

Election Race in Ecuador

By Carlos Quintanilla

The Ecuadorian Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE, in Spanish), has scheduled the general election there for October 15. The campaign officially starts on August 29 and will close three days before the elections.

Over nine million registered voters, plus overseas residents, will elect a president and a vice president, in addition to the one hundred National and five Andean Parliament members. Ecuador has a population of 13.4 million people, 65% of whom live in poverty.

If no one wins on October 15, there will be a second round on November 26. The new Ecuadorian president will be in office from January 15, 2007, until January 15, 2011.

The winner will replace Alfredo Palacios, who assumed office in April 2005 when Congress removed Lucio Guti‚rrez for financing his 2002 drive with funds supplied from overseas. Guti‚rrez faced violent protests against his rule. He was the third Ecuadorian president to be ousted in eight years.

The Ecuadorian Union Peasants and other Ecuadorian organizations held a series of protests against Guti‚rrez's government, accusing him of handing Ecuador over to the trans-nationals. The popular and indigenous movement that brought Guti‚rrez to the presidency was the same one that overthrew him.

Guti‚rrez says his removal from power was unconstitutional. In spite of this setback, the one-time coup leader has announced that he will run in the October presidential elections.

Palacios, who was vice president under Guti‚rrez, became a critic of his administration, disillusioned that there were no actions taken against poverty.

One month after taking office, Palacios said that Ecuador's political system must change in order to make the country more stable. However, his plans to overhaul the Constitution have been rejected or watered down by lawmakers.

His administration has also been dogged by strikes and protests in the oil industry, and by stiff opposition to a planned free-trade agreement with the US. Demonstrators have recently blocked roads to obstruct negotiations with Washington. Peasants and other participants in the social movement argue that the deal with US will damage their way of life.

Palacios has increased source spending and has diverted money intended for economic stabilization to health and education. However, the Ecuadorian people are also demanding structural changes.

Carlos Quintanilla produces and hosts KPFK's Spanish language news program "Noticiero Pac¡fica", which is broadcast over 90.7 FM, Saturdays at 4:00 PM. Noticiero Pac¡fica is the only independent news program focusing on Latin Am‚rica issues in the Los Angeles area. P. O. Box 761475, Los Angeles, CA 90076. E-mail: notipaci@hotmail.com