Ecuador Decides Its Future on February 7th

Ecuador will hold general elections on February 7th to choose 144 authorities nationwide including the president, as well as renewing both the executive and legislative power.

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The National Electoral Council guaranteed on Saturday that the mechanism is ready for the Ecuadoreans to vote amid the COVID-19  pandemic. Since Friday  653 disabled people are casting their votes at home following biosecurity measures.

More than 13 million people are registered on the electoral roll and over 410,000 are expected to participate overseas. They will choose Ecuador's next president amid 16 candidates. The next president will have to rescue the country from an economic and constitutional crisis that has further sink Ecuador in poverty during the mandate of Lenin Moreno.

Most polls forecast that the Union for Hope (UNES) candidate Andres Arauz will win the election in the first-round although right-win forces have carried out a disinformation campaign centered on alleged fraud to force a second round. Arauz, the only progressive amid the 16 candidates, was Minister for Science and Education in the government of Rafael Correa and is due to become the youngest president in Ecuador's history.

The other main candidates are the businessman and owner of financial holdings, Guillermo Lasso, from Creating Opportunities (CREO) - Christian Social Party (PSC) alliance and the indigenous leader of the Kichwa-Kañari nationality Yaku Perez from the Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement.

To win in the first round, the candidate must obtain an absolute majority of the valid votes, which would be 50 percent of the votes plus one or at least 40 percent and a difference of more than ten points over the runner-up. If this does not happen, the runoff would take place on April 11. 

Over 2000  national and international observers will monitor the process, including the European Union, the Organization of American States (OAS), and representatives from the Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America (Ceela) and the Global South Observatory among others.