The presidential elections this Sunday in Ecuador They arrive preceded by the assassination of one of the participating candidates, Fernando Villavicencio, and other political crimes that have stained the campaign with blood. In a context of unprecedented anxiety and a serious security crisis that threatens the foundations of the State, polls have placed the correísta Luisa Gonzalez as a favourite, although without the necessary percentage to avoid a second round. Three other candidates are fighting to enter that decisive instance that will take place in mid-October.
Luisa González, on behalf of Rafael Correa
Lawyer and former deputy, González seeks, at the age of 45, to bring back to the Carondelet Palace Citizen revolutionthe party formed in 2005 by the economist Rafael Correa and who governed between 2007 and 2017, when Ecuador veered to the right and forced the former president into exile. Gonzalez has a wide experience in the public sector. His prominence in recent months earned him the presidential candidacy that, it was expected, would fall back on Andrés Arauz, who was defeated by Guillermo Lasso in 2021. He has a 30% voting intention. Like Correa, González has a progressive profile in economic mattersbut it is against decriminalizing abortion, even for rape victims. The latest episodes of violence have forced her to formulate a security policy based especially on the police purge for his alleged ties to the drug trafficking.
Christian Zurita, Villavicencio’s successor
Christian Zurita I work with Fernando Villavicencio in many investigations on corruption, organized crime and drug trafficking. They shared authorship of the book Green rice. The bribery industryfrom 2019. What he did not expect was that the murder of his partner would force him to replace him in this Sunday’s contest as standard bearer of build. Before being killed by hitmen, Villavicencio was second in the polls, with 12.5% of supporters. Now it is Zurita who must take his group to the second turn. Born on April 4, 1970, like his late friend and collaborator, circumstances have led him from journalism to politics. Zurita has worked in written and visual media. One of his investigations, included in the book big brotherco-written with Juan Carlos Calderón, led the court to convict in absentia to Correa. “We will try to emulate his ability and emulate his nameZurita said, invoking the figure of his murdered friend. He proposes better equipping and training the Police, enriching intelligence protocols in the fight against crime, and greater collaboration with the United States.
Jan Topic, the prophet of the heavy hand
The Villavicencio case has created new conditions for the speeches inspired by the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, to acquire a differential place in the campaign. Jan Topic, a businessman in the security sector, has gone from being a footnote in these elections to gaining some notoriety for his desire to import the methodology of the Salvadoran autocrat in his country. His ex-soldier status in the French Foreign Legion It has been a kind of guarantee unrelenting hardness against crime. The candidate of For a country without fear has been nicknamed the “Ecuadorian Rambo“. And to give more support to that nickname, he has used military uniforms in some proselytizing acts. His intention of “zero tolerance” against crime has caused the shares of the previously unknown applicant to rise. 12.2% of the voters would lean towards him.
Yaku Pérez, the environment as a banner
Born in 1969, Pérez was an important piece of the movement Pachakutikpolitical arm of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), which he represented in the 2021 presidential elections. After the contest, in which he came in third place, he decided to form his own group, we are water. As Pachakutik has not presented a candidate this time, Pérez is the only candidate who comes from an original town, the kanariwho competes in the elections at the head of the alliance Of course it can.
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The question ecological It is central to your program. Her condition as an activist has led her on several occasions to the jail. Pérez has postgraduate degrees in environmental and criminal law. To differentiate himself from punitive policies, he has proposed a intermediate point between the “hard hand” and the “open hand” that combines a low tolerance for crime with investments in education and youth employment programs. It has a voting intention of 7.5%.
Otto Sonnenholzner, a center-right standard bearer
Economist, businessman and media man, on the backs of Otto Sonnenholzner40 years old, falls under the responsibility of giving continuity to a project of center right that, since 2017, tries to impose itself in that country in the midst of enormous difficulties. The candidate of the Avanza and Sociedad Unida Más Acción (SUMA) parties entered the electoral arena warning of the risks of a return of populism. Former Vice President of Lenin Morenohas placed emphasis during the troubled electoral campaign on the need for a security policy without contemplations, essential in his opinion to guarantee the foreign investment. “When a criminal raises a weapon … (the police officers) are going to give him the shot he deserves,” he said. He also proposes a judicial reform that grants expedited sentences. The latest poll gives him 5.1% of the vote.