Guillermo Lasso awaits election day ‘in peace’

President of Ecuador, conservative Guillermo Lassomade this Sunday a call to have “peaceful and civil day” in the second round of extraordinary presidential elections, which he hoped would “drive away demagoguery and authoritarianism”.

During the opening ceremony of the election day, the Ecuadorian president He called on the population to vote peacefullyafter these elections were characterized as the most violent in the country’s democratic history, s assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio eleven days before the first round.

This Sunday there are more than 13.4 million Ecuadorians invited to the elections to choose between the correístas Luisa Gonzalez or a young entrepreneur Daniel Noboa to Las’s successor and thus complete the 2021-2025 period, interrupted by the president’s call for “crucified death” last May, which dissolved National Assembly (Parliament) and forced this extraordinary election process.

“The next president will get an Ecuador with strengthened democracy and economic growth, with recovered institutions and repositioning at the international level,” said the president, who decided to run again in these elections.

“There are challenges and unsolved tasks, but my government has mapped out a route that will firmly move along the path of development, well-being and prosperity,” he added.

Lasso reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to ensuring security, transparency and popular will expressed at the polling stations, and thanked the presence of election observation missions and election experts from organizations such as Organization of American States (OAS) and European Union (EU).

“Threats, polarization and misinformation”

For her part, the president in National Electoral Council (CNE) He emphasized that all institutions are focused on “free, transparent and informed elections” and expressed regret for “threats, harassment, toxic polarization and misinformation that we have to fight every day”.

“We must not succumb to pressure or allow certain actors to want to use institutions as spaces for persecution or political revenge,” Atamaint said.

In this sense, he emphasized the unprecedented nature of these elections and that “for the first time in the history of Ecuador, we have a woman” in the second round, as in the case of González, and there is also “a young man as a candidate.”

“This is a good sign that our democracy is moving towards greater participation and inclusion of young people and women,” Atamaint believes.

“Let’s not allow ideological differences to undermine the democratic stability of our country. Democracy implies respecting and tolerating diversity. In a motley and motley society, it is important to listen and respect the opinions of others, even when we disagree,” he added.

The solution to the “political problem”

On his part, President of the Electoral Court (TCE), Fernando Muñozhe emphasized “a call for caution in the face of an avalanche of misinformation on social networks”.

“The integrity of the electoral process cannot be jeopardized in the face of unverified information,” said Muñoz, who called on the media “not to give way to disinformation and fake news that try to distort public expression at the polls.”

Muñoz also pointed out that this vote will allow to “solve the political problem” arising from the application of “death by crucifixion” last May.

Through this constitutional mechanism, Lasso dissolved the National Assembly as it, controlled by an opposition majority led by Koreism, prepared to vote on his removal as the latest step in a political trial in which he is accused of alleged embezzlement, a charge he denies.

In exchange, the president shortened his mandate and forced this extraordinary election process, the winner of which will have a mandate of only fifteen months, until the new regular elections in May 2025.