| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Comisión Legislativa y de Fiscalización / Legislative and Oversight Commission |
| Structure of parliament |
Unicameral |
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
15 October 2006 |
| Purpose of elections |
Elections were held for all the seats in the National Congress on the normal expiry of the members' term of office. |
Parliamentary and presidential elections were held on 15 October 2006.
In the last elections, held in October 2002, the centre-right Social Christian Party (PSC) took 24 seats, followed by the Democratic Left (ID) with 16 seats, and the centre-right Roldosista Party of Ecuador (PRE) with 15 seats. The right-wing Institutional Renewal Party of National Action (PRIAN) and the PACHAKUTIC (a leftist indigenous movement) took 10 seats each. In the presidential race, Mr. Lucio Gutiérrez of the Party of the Patriotic Society (PSP), a left-wing nationalist party, defeated Mr. Alvaro Noboa of the PRIAN in run-off elections.
Since the 2002 elections, the country had experienced considerable political turmoil, having had two presidents and three governments. Before being removed from the presidency in April 2005, President Gutiérrez had formed two governments, one leftist and one rightist. The leftist government that followed the 2002 elections disintegrated over President Gutiérrez's support for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and in November 2004 his former leftist allies tried to impeach him for alleged misuse of State funds.
In December 2004, the subsequent rightist governmental coalition passed a resolution to dismiss all the Supreme Court judges, alleging that the court was biased in favour of the PSC. The judges' dismissal triggered weeks of street protests and sometimes violent demonstrations. On 20 April, Congress voted to replace President Gutiérrez with the vice-president, Mr. Alfred Palacio. Mr. Palacio subsequently formed a new government, mainly comprising members of the ID.
In the run-up to the 2006 elections, the media focused on the presidential elections. The main candidates were Mr. Alvaro Noboa of the PRIAN, Mr. Rafael Correa of the Country Alliance (Alianza País, AP), and the brother of former President Gutiérrez, Mr. Gilmar Gutiérrez, of the PSP. Mr. Noboa, a well-known billionaire, was running for the third time. He pledged to create jobs, build houses and increase wages. Mr. Correa, a 43-year-old economist and former finance minister, was known to be an ally of the Venezuelan President, Mr. Hugo Chavez. Mr. Correa pledged not to sign the FTAA and to close the US military base in Ecuador. In the light of his commitment to rewrite the Constitution and to restructure Congress, he did not endorse any party in the parliamentary elections. Mr. Gilmar Gutiérrez said his party would provide better health services and education and pledged to rebuild the country's economy.
Approximately 63.5 per cent of the countrys 9.1 million registered voters turned out at the polls.
The PRIAN and the PSP emerged as the victors in the parliamentary elections. The PRIAN became the largest party in Congress by winning 27 seats, up from 10 in the 2002 elections. The PSP obtained 23, up from seven. The PSC retained only 12 of its 24 seats.
After the first round of the presidential elections, Mr. Noboa was best placed with 26 per cent, and faced a run-off election against Mr. Correa. With the backing of the parties of the left, Mr. Correa subsequently defeated Mr. Noboa, taking 56.67 per cent of the votes.
The newly elected National Congress held its first session on 4 January 2007 and elected Mr. Jorge José Cevallos Macías of the PRIAN as its new Speaker for a two-year term.
Mr. Rafael Correa was sworn in as President of the country on 15 January 2007.
A political crisis opened in February 2007 when President Correa announced his intention to hold a referendum on the creation of a Constituent Assembly that would rewrite the Constitution. 57 parliamentarians who opposed the move were dismissed by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal on 7 March. They were replaced by substitute members on 20 March, but on 27 March a provincial court upheld a request to suspend the dismissals. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 15 October 2006 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
9'165'125
63.5%
|
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of votes |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Candidates |
Votes |
|
|
% |
|
|
| Institutional Renewal Party of National Action (PRIAN) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Party of the Patriotic Society (PSP) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Social Christian Party (PSC) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Others |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ID-RED Alliance (ID-RED) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Roldosista Party of Ecuador (PRE) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| PACHAKUTIC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| People's Democratic Movement (MPD) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Union démocrate chrétienne (UDC) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
|
|
|
|
| Institutional Renewal Party of National Action (PRIAN) |
27
|
|
|
|
|
| Party of the Patriotic Society (PSP) |
23
|
|
|
|
|
| Social Christian Party (PSC) |
12
|
|
|
|
|
| Others |
11
|
|
|
|
|
| ID-RED Alliance (ID-RED) |
10
|
|
|
|
|
| Roldosista Party of Ecuador (PRE) |
6
|
|
|
|
|
| PACHAKUTIC |
6
|
|
|
|
|
| People's Democratic Movement (MPD) |
3
|
|
|
|
|
| Union démocrate chrétienne (UDC) |
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
75
25
25.00%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
|
|
| Comments |
Sources:
- http://www.tse.gov.ec/
- National Congress (11.10.2006) |
|
A historical Archive of past election results for this chamber can be found on a separate page