The Ecuadorean candidate from Union for Hope (UNES), Andres Arauz, denounced this Wednesday that "there is an attempt in our country underway to undermine Ecuadorian democracy. There is already an explicit attempt to postpone or suspend the February 7 elections so that they can be held on another date."
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Arauz is leading in the polls two months before the elections, according to the Latin American Strategic Center for Geopolitics (Celag), having obtained 36.5 percent of endorsements in voting intentions in a recent survey. Businessman Álvaro Noboa occupies the second place in the survey with 22.9 percent, while the current Government representative, Ximena Peña, barely reaches 1.2 percent.
On Tuesday, December 15, the Vice President of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Enrique Pita, voiced during a TV interview the possibility of modifying the date of the first round of the referred elections. Pita alleged "a problem with the calendar," citing it as a possible reason to move the first electoral round "one or two weeks" back.
In this context, as recalled by the UNES candidate, according to Article 143 of the Democratic Charter of the South American country, if the elections are not held on the scheduled date, they could be declared null and void, hence the danger looming in the decision.
Arauz has asked the electorate for vigilance after delays in the approval of his candidacy. "This attempt to postpone and annul the elections", said Arauz, "responds to the ambition of the current Ecuadorean President, Lenin Moreno, to remain in office, with the goal of having the necessary time to finish his negotiations."
"The attempt to postpone, suspend or annul the elections is given by the ambition of Lenin Moreno and those around him to extend his stay in power with absolute lack of democratic legitimacy to achieve the last-minute negotiations around the privatization of strategic assets," he added.
About 13 million Ecuadoreans are called to the polls on February 7, 2021, to elect the president and vice president of the country. At the same time as the first round of voting, legislative elections will be held to choose representatives to the Andean Parliament and the members of the Assembly for the same period.