• Elections Elections in Ecuador and Peru: between uncertainty and pandemic

  • Gran Angle Latin America: a key year for the populist ordeal

Ecuador reopened its polls today to decide if it wants Correísmo to return to the Carondelet Palace or if it is committed to political and economic change after 18 years of leftist governments and in the midst of the deep crisis caused by the pandemic.

Further south, in Peru, its citizens went to vote in the first round in search of a first president for Pizarro's chair, the most dangerous on the continent after

a legislature that has seen four different presidents leading the country

.

Up to seven candidates have a chance to go on to the June ballot.

"We have the opportunity to recover our future, on that path of progress, security and dignity that made us the jaguar of Latin America," roared former President Rafael Correa from Belgium, where he is a refugee from justice, to call for the vote of his fellow citizens.

His chosen one to regain power is Andrés Arauz, standard-bearer of the Union for Hope (UNES) and who today started as a favorite after winning in the first

round

with a 13% advantage.

In front of him, the conservative candidate Guillermo Lasso, the protagonist of a day-to-day comeback during the campaign, which against all odds made him a very tough rival to overcome after renewing his messages, his speech and even his public image.

Lasso dreams of reaching the Presidency in his third election.

In 2017 he was close, when he was defeated in the second round by Lenín Moreno, Correa's vice president who did not take long to break with him.

The Guayaquil politician lost by just 200,000 votes, 2.32%, after previously falling in the first round by more than 10 points.

So much was his drive that the great leader of the citizen's revolution tried to sow doubts before the scrutiny, as he did in February supported by his continental and Spanish allies.

On behalf of the Puebla Group, former judge Baltasar Garzón, defense attorney for Nicolás Maduro's front man in the trial that follows him in Cape Verde, traveled to Quito.

Whichever the winner is, they must agree with a National Assembly without an absolute majority

, in which UNES is the main party, with 49 of the 137 seats.

Facing the correistas are the parties that support Lasso: the PSC, with 18 deputies, and CREO, with 12.

Between them is the Democratic Left (18), whose standard-bearer, Xavier Hervás, has opted for Lasso in the ballot.

The main questions hang over Pachakutik (27), who obtained historical support

but is experiencing an internal war between those who opt for the null vote or for the support of the two presidential candidates.

These two parties intend to reissue their old alliance and add some independent to become, with fifty, the most influential parliamentary group for the new legislature.

Very similar conditions exist in Peru, which also elected a new legislative chamber, which

will be marked by fragmentation

.

Beyond the different ideologies,

both Andean countries are going through economic, social and political crises

, as well as a particularly cruel pandemic.

Guayaquil, which last year scared the world with the images of corpses abandoned in the streets, recalled last week the worst moments, with 83 burials, of which 39 were confirmed by Covid.

In the capital Quito, its mayor has asked for 15 more days of a state of emergency and a curfew to prevent the spread of the new wave of the virus.

So far, 12,356 people have died in the Andean country from the virus

, plus 4,919 from respiratory disease in the context of the pandemic.

"In both countries what is at stake is determining who is going to face the challenges of the pandemic and promote economic recovery without the benefit of a legislative majority and with polarized peoples who distrust their politicians and institutions," summarizes for EL MUNDO the political scientist John Polga-Hecimovich.

At least today there was hopeful news:

700,000 doses of the Chinese Sinovac arrived in Quito

to join the vaccination of Ecuador.

One third are destined for teachers.

So far only 113,000 vaccines have been completed, for a total of 357,000 doses.

"Beyond the right-left divide, these elections are also a

kind of referendum on populism and the legacies of its

most important

populist leaders

of the last 30 years. In a more pessimistic sense, what may also be at stake is determine who could fall before a brave people and an intransigent congress ", Polga-Hecimovich, professor of comparative politics, says.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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  • Coronavirus

  • Nicolas Maduro

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