Ecuadorian general election, 2006

Ecuadorian general election, 2006

October 15, 2006 (2006-10-15)

Nominee Rafael Correa Álvaro Noboa Party PAIS Alliance PRIAN Running mate Lenin Moreno Vicente Taiano Popular vote 1,246,333 3,517,635 1,464,251 2,689,418 Percentage 22.84% 56.67% 26.83% 43.33%

President before election Alfredo Palacio Elected President Rafael Correa PAIS Alliance

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.

Results

	Party	Candidate	Votes 1.ª round	% en 1.ª round	Votes 2.ª round	% en 2.ª round
	Partido Renovador Institucional de Acción Nacional	Álvaro Noboa	1.464.251	26,83%	2.689.418	43,33%
	Alianza PAIS	Rafael Correa	1.246.333	22,84%	3.517.635	56.67%
	Partido Sociedad Patriótica 21 de Enero	Gilmar Gutiérrez	950.895	17.42%
	Democratic Left (Ecuador)	León Roldós Aguilera	809.754	14,84%
	Partido Social Cristiano (Ecuador)	Cynthia Viteri	525.728	9.63%
	Pachakutik	Luis Macas	119.577	2.19%
	Partido Roldosista Ecuatoriano	Fernando Rosero	113.323	2.08%
	Movimiento de Reivindicación Democrática	Marco Proaño Maya	77.655	1,42%
	Movimiento Popular Democrático	Luis Villacís	72.762	1.33%
	Concentración de Fuerzas Populares	Jaime Damerval	25.284	0.46%
	Alianza Tercera República	Marcelo Larrea Cabrera	23.233	0.43%
	Movimiento Revolucionario de Participación Popular	Lenin Torres	15.357	0,28%
	Integración Nacional Alfarista	Carlos Sagnay de la Bastida	13.455	0,25%

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.

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.

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. 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.

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

Congress

  Summary of the 15 October 2006 Ecuadorian National Congress election results

Parties		Seats
	Institutional Renewal Party of National Action (Partido Renovador Institucional de Acción Nacional)	28
	January 21 Patriotic Society Party (Partido Sociedad Patriótica 21 de Enero)	24
	Social Christian Party (Partido Social Cristiano;)	13
	Party of the Democratic Left (Partido Izquierda Democrática)	7
	Ecuadorian Roldosist Party (Partido Roldosista Ecuatoriano)	6
	Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement – New Country (Movimiento de Unidad Plurinacional Pachakutik – Nuevo País)	6
	Christian Democratic Union (Unión Demócrata Cristiana)	5
	Ethics and Democracy Network	5
	Democratic People's Movement	3
	Partido Socialista - Frente Amplio de Ecuador	1
	Acción Regional por la Equidad (ARE)	1
	Movement Civic New Country (Movimiento Ciudadano Nuevo País)	1
Total (turnout 63.5%)		100
Source: [1]

External links

• Tribunal Supremo Electoral
• Ecuadorian Election 2006 - Election news from Angus Reid Global Monitor
• Correa likely to win Ecuador elections, NDTV.com
• Ecuador candidate defends Chavez ties, seattlepi.com
• Washington frets over 'Bolivarian’ candidate, Green Left Weekly