The last night of election campaigning included several fireworks displays, including this one shot from our living room window.
Ecuador has an interesting election cycle — I think the USA could learn something from their process.
Nobody is allowed to campaign until 30 days before the election. All campaigning must stop 48 hours before the election day, as must all sales of alcohol. The sitting president is not allowed to campaign, since that would be diverting his attention from running the country. Thus, the president (Correa currently) resigns from his post 30 days before the election, leaving the Vice President in charge of the country. The day after the election, he is sworn back in.
Campaign posters never show up until 30 days before the election. Those posters must all be removed within a short time after the election (10 days, I believe), or the city will remove them, charging the political parties for such removal. This keeps the city clean and free of political smut except for a 30 day period every two years.
During those 30 days though, the city is a madhouse! Parades almost every day. Music venues set up for political parties (in both senses of the word). We attended both rock and jazz concerts put on as part of the campaign. Sound trucks cruise the roads, blaring their party’s theme song interspersed with some campaign talking that we could not understand (poor Spanish skills…). Fireworks several times a week. General pandemonium until the required quiet period starting 48 hours before the polls open.
The political parties in Ecuador are primarily known by their number. 35 is the party of President Correas. 62-82 is a coalition of two parties (62 and 82) that want to change the leadership. The numbers correspond to the number the party has on the ballot. It is required by law that everyone vote, or face a penalty of 10% of the average Ecuadorian monthly income, which comes to about $30. Though Ecuador has a literacy rate of almost 92% (higher than the USA!), the ballot numbers still helps those who are not literate, or who simply want to vote a party line.
President Correa is in his last allowed term, with 3 years to go as a lame duck. He was in Cuenca this week campaigning hard for his party’s candidates.
Correa rides in an open car, shaking hands and kissing babies. His guards are close by, but I’d never get this close to Obama on the street!
Correa’s party is ’35’ with color green. There was no mistaking which party was in any given parade.
Despite the strong support and campaigning of the sitting President, it appears that his party lost the mayor race in all three major cities of Ecuador — Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca. Results are not all in, but the newspapers are calling the winners. One report says that Correa has already conceded, even though the polls just closed about 2 hours ago and only 40% or so have reported. That part sounds much like in the States…
The “62-82” party won the local mayoral elections. The top image shows Marcelo Cabrera giving a speech. He is the new (and former) mayor of Cuenca.
In local elections, Marcelo Cabrera was the former mayor of Cuenca, who lost to Paul Granda in the last election. He came back this time, as part of the 62-82 coalition, and won with 51% of the vote, compared to Granda’s 46%. Thus, the former mayor is again the current mayor-elect. His stated position is that the light rail is a waste of money and not needed, so we will soon see if he reverses the work done there. That development is early enough, with only a few power poles repositioned thus far, so it is possible the project will now be killed.
Indigenous Ecuadorians went to the 62-82 coalition in large numbers, partly due to opposition of Correa’s intentions to drill in the Amazon.
Both sides had active supporters and parades, and in Ecuador you always seem to find clowns as part of any public event.