Ecuadorian general election, 2006

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. [cite news
last =
first =
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title = Ecuador's Correa wins vote, faces tough task
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publisher = Reuters
date = 2006-11-28
url = http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=winterOlympics&storyID=2006-11-28T225323Z_01_N19156110_RTRUKOC_0_US-ECUADOR-ELECTION.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-C2-NextArticle-2
accessdate = 2006-11-28 ]

Main candidates

* Rafael Correa (running mate: Lenín Moreno)
* Gilmar Gutiérrez (Patriotic Society Party)
* Álvaro Noboa (PRIAN) (running mate: Vicente Taiano)
* León Roldós (running mate: Ramiro González)
* Cynthia Viteri

Results

First round

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.

electiontable|Ecuador presidential election, 2006"'Summary of the 15 October 2006 and 26 November 2006 Ecuador presidential election results
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left rowspan=2 valign=top|Candidates - Parties!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan=2 align=right|First round!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan=2 align=right|Second round
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
-
align=left valign=top|Rafael Correa - Alianza PAIS
bgcolor=lightgreen | 1,246,333
bgcolor=lightgreen valign="top"| 22.84
bgcolor=green | 3,517,635
bgcolor=green valign="top"| 56.67
-
align=left valign=top|Álvaro Noboa - Institutional Renewal Party of National Action
bgcolor=green | 1,464,251
bgcolor=green valign="top"| 26.83
2,689,418
valign="top"| 43.33
-
align=left valign=top|Gilmar Gutiérrez - January 21 Patriotic Society Party
950,895
valign="top"| 17.42
valign="top" colspan=2 rowspan=11
-
align=left valign=top|León Roldós Aguilera - Ethical and Democratic Network / Party of the Democratic Left
809,754
valign="top"| 14.84
-
align=left valign=top|Cynthia Viteri - Social Christian Party
525,728
valign="top"| 9.63
-
align=left valign=top|Luis Macas - Pluri-National Pachakutik United Movement
119,577
valign="top"| 2.19
-
align=left valign=top|Fernando Rosero - Ecuadorian Roldosist Party
113,323
valign="top"| 2.08
-
align=left valign=top|Marco Proaño Maya - Movement for Democratic Vindication
77,655
valign="top"| 1.42
-
align=left valign=top|Luis Villacís - Democratic People's Movement
72,762
valign="top"| 1.33
-
align=left valign=top|Jaime Damerval Martínez - Concentration of People's Forces
25,284
valign="top"| 0.46
-
align=left valign=top|Marcello Larrea Cabrera - ATR
23,233
valign="top"| 0.43
-
align=left valign=top|Lenin Torres - Movimiento Revolucionario de Participación Popular (MRPP)
15,357
valign="top"| 0.28
-
align=left valign=top|Carlos Francisco Sagnay de la Bastida - INA
13,455
valign="top"| 0.25
-
align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total
5,457,607
width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
6,966,145
width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
-
align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Blank votes
316,220
width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
70,219
width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
-
align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Null votes
775,613
width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
681,960
width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
-
align=left colspan=5|Source: [http://www.tse.gov.ec/Resultados2006_2v/ Tribunal Supremo Electoral - second round totals]

Noteworthy lack of reporting of null votes

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.Fact|date=February 2007

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 reportsFact|date=February 2007 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.Fact|date=February 2007

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.

Run-off

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. [http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=winterOlympics&storyID=2006-11-28T175548Z_01_N19156110_RTRUKOC_0_US-ECUADOR-ELECTION.xml "Correa wins Ecuador's presidential vote: official"] 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. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_6194000/6194034.stm BBC News (in Spanish): Correa "nuevo presidente de Ecuador"]

Rafael Correa was duly sworn in as president for a four-year term on 15 January 2007.

Congress

References

External links

* [http://www.tse.gov.ec/ResultadosParciales2006/ "Tribunal Supremo Electoral"]
* [http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/searchSimpleResults/iw/1/keyword/correa%20and%20noboa Ecuadorian Election 2006] - Election news from Angus Reid Global Monitor
* [http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Correa+likely+to+win+Ecuador+elections&id=94352 "Correa likely to win Ecuador elections", NDTV.com]
* [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Ecuador_Leftist_Candidate.html "Ecuador candidate defends Chavez ties", seattlepi.com]
* [http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/685/685p19b.htm "Washington frets over 'Bolivarian’ candidate", Green Left Weekly]