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| Ecuador |
This article is part of the series: |
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Other countries · Atlas |
On 15 October 2006, Ecuador held a general election. The voters stood to elect a new President, a new National Congress, as well as other positions.
Since no candidate was able to secure the needed majority of the presidential vote in the first round, a run-off election was held on 26 November. According to preliminary results published by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal on 28 November, Rafael Correa had a clear lead over Álvaro Noboa after 96% of the votes had been counted.[1]
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The rightist banana tycoon Álvaro Noboa won almost 27 percent of the presidential vote while leftist Rafael Correa won close to 23 percent. Since neither candidate gained over half of the votes or a minimum of 40 percent with a 10 percent lead over the closest rival, a second-round election was held to determine the winner.
| Candidates - Parties | First round | Second round | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |
| Rafael Correa - Alianza PAIS | 1,246,333 | 22.84 | 3,517,635 | 56.67 |
| Álvaro Noboa - Institutional Renewal Party of National Action | 1,464,251 | 26.83 | 2,689,418 | 43.33 |
| Gilmar Gutiérrez - January 21 Patriotic Society Party | 950,895 | 17.42 | ||
| León Roldós Aguilera - Ethical and Democratic Network / Party of the Democratic Left | 809,754 | 14.84 | ||
| Cynthia Viteri - Social Christian Party | 525,728 | 9.63 | ||
| Luis Macas - Pluri-National Pachakutik United Movement | 119,577 | 2.19 | ||
| Fernando Rosero - Ecuadorian Roldosist Party | 113,323 | 2.08 | ||
| Marco Proaño Maya - Movement for Democratic Vindication | 77,655 | 1.42 | ||
| Luis Villacís - Democratic People's Movement | 72,762 | 1.33 | ||
| Jaime Damerval Martínez - Concentration of People's Forces | 25,284 | 0.46 | ||
| Marcello Larrea Cabrera - ATR | 23,233 | 0.43 | ||
| Lenin Torres - Movimiento Revolucionario de Participación Popular (MRPP) | 15,357 | 0.28 | ||
| Carlos Francisco Sagnay de la Bastida - INA | 13,455 | 0.25 | ||
| Total | 5,457,607 | 6,966,145 | ||
| Blank votes | 316,220 | 70,219 | ||
| Null votes | 775,613 | 681,960 | ||
| Source: Tribunal Supremo Electoral - second round totals | ||||
Since Ecuador makes voting mandatory for every individual between the age of 18 and 65, individuals may nullify their vote on the ballot, or elect to leave the ballot blank.
In previous elections, the mass media usually counted and displayed null and blank votes as contenders in running tallies from exit polls and final results, both infographically and in spoken language. In contrast to former election processes, this time the media spent almost no time reporting null and blank votes. Infographics and spoken reports simply discounted null and blank votes, electing to sum only non-null votes.
One potential reason for this change in reporting may lie in the discontent of the Ecuadorian electorate with the political candidates: it was thought possible that null choices could have gathered the most votes, even more than the favourite candidates.
According to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the first-round total of null and blank votes was 1,091,833, which is less than the vote for either of the top two candidates.
On 28 November, Correa was declared the winner, although Noboa did not accept defeat, and suggested that he might challenge the validity of the ballot.[2] According to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), out of 97.29% of the votes counted, 57.07% were for Correa and 42.96% for Noboa. Among others, the Organization of American States, US ambassador Linda Jewell, and representatives of many South American countries have recognised Correa as the winner of the election. However, as of 29 November, Álvaro Noboa had still not admitted defeat. [3]
Rafael Correa was duly sworn in as president for a four-year term on 15 January 2007.
| Parties | Seats | |
|---|---|---|
| Institutional Renewal Party of National Action (Partido Renovador Institucional de Acción Nacional) | 27 | |
| January 21 Patriotic Society Party (Partido Sociedad Patriótica 21 de Enero) | 23 | |
| Social Christian Party (Partido Social Cristiano;) | 12 | |
| Others | 11 | |
| Party of the Democratic Left (Partido Izquierda Democrática)–Ethical and Democratic Network Alliance | 10 | |
| Ecuadorian Roldosist Party (Partido Roldosista Ecuatoriano) | 6 | |
| Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement – New Country (Movimiento de Unidad Plurinacional Pachakutik – Nuevo País) | 6 | |
| Democratic People's Movement (Movimiento Popular Democrático) | 3 | |
| Christian Democratic Union (Unión Demócrata Cristiana) | 2 | |
| Total (turnout 63.5%) | 100 | |
| Source: IPU | ||
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