Special Insight Papers

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.