Andean Group
With local elections just two weeks away, Ecuador's political parties have begun squabbling over how to convert votes into political posts. The larger parties, the Partido Social Cristiano (PSC), the Izquierda Demócratica (ID) and Pachakutik, favour the 'Imperial' voting system; the smaller parties, including President Gutiérrez's own Sociedad Patriótica (SP), favour a more proportionally representational system. Crucially, the supreme electoral tribunal (TSE) is backing the big parties. The dispute is becoming so bitter, however, that on 29 September the TSE actually recommended delaying the elections, scheduled for 17 October.
President Gutiérrez was unabashed in his criticism of the tribunal's decision. 'The TSE, in an unconstitutional manner, is providing support to parties such as the ID, the PSC and Pachakutik,' he said, adding that it was up to congress to decide on a formula for distributing posts.
The four-man committee of the TSE argued that they were forced to make a decision following congress's failure. 'We waited eight months for congress to choose a way of distributing votes, but they didn't do it,' Eduardo Villaquirán, the vice-president of the TSE, said. 'Seeing as we are only two weeks away from the elections and from the constitutional obligation to hold them, we decided to take the decision.'
As it stands now politicians will not debate the issue unless at least 67 deputies ask the leader of congress, Guillermo Landázuri, to include the topic in the parliamentary agenda. The smaller parties argue that 51 requests (a majority, since there are 100 seats in congress) should be sufficient. One independent deputy, José Luis Columbo, claims the smaller parties have 52 supporters in congress.
Ecuador is no stranger to electoral reform; in the last 26 years there have been 25 changes and many have taken place shortly before elections. Considering Ecuador has had nine different presidents in the same period, the reforms have hardly proved effective at guaranteeing political stability. In the longer term, the 'Imperial' voting system, by favouring the larger parties, could help to create a less fractious congress. These municipal elections, however, will be overshadowed by the controversy the TSE's decision has provoked. The results are also likely to make life more difficult for Gutiérrez, whose SP party will probably fail to garner the 5% of the vote it needs to avoid being struck off the electoral register.
- President Lucio Gutiérrez has ordered an investigation into the work of Diego Oquendo, a journalist who alleged that Gutiérrez had funded his electoral campaign with money from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc). The allegations emerged from a radio interview with former social welfare minister Patricio Acosta, whom Gutiérrez fired earlier this year after the US put him on a list of foreign officials suspected of corruption. The investigation is set to provoke further accusations that the president is interfering with the freedom of the press.