Elections in Ecuador: strong comeback of supporters of former President Rafael Correa
A woman puts her ballot in the ballot box at a polling station in Quito on February 5, 2023. AP - Dolores Ochoa
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The Ecuadorian National Electoral Council is taking its time to deliver the results of the local elections and referendum this Sunday, marked by a turnout of more than 80%.
The first results, which are still provisional, however, show a very clear trend: the strong comeback of supporters of former President Rafael Correa, currently a refugee in Belgium.
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With our correspondent in Quito,
Éric Samson
They may be more than 270, but few movements and political parties celebrated on Sunday evening.
With the notable exception of the Citizen Revolution of former President Rafael Correa, convicted of corruption three years ago.
The first results clearly show that the Social-Christian party will lose its 30-year-old bastion, the great port of Guayaquil, and that the capital, too, has fallen into the hands of the Corréistes.
Interviewed on television, the probable future mayor of Quito, Pabel Muñoz, is not surprised.
“
The three most populous provinces in the country apparently voted overwhelmingly for us.
This confirms what people are telling us on the streets, that the country has gone backwards significantly in all areas over the past six years, that it is time to stop the country's decline and that we must come together to push together the 'Ecuador in the same direction
,' he says.
While its leaders are mostly on the run or in prison, the Citizen Revolution movement has succeeded in depriving its adversaries, but also its indigenous allies, of several of their strongholds.
As for the referendum wanted by President Guillermo Lasso, the first provisional figures show a rejection of the eight questions asked, including the one that would have allowed the extradition of Ecuadorian drug traffickers.
►Also read: Elections in Ecuador: the referendum on the extradition of criminals at the heart of the debates
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