Ecuador braces for presidential election on Sunday

teleSUR English

*Luisa Gonzalez and Daniel Noboa, neck and neck in presidential race

Transcript

00:00Welcome back to From the South, and we now go back to Ecuador with days to go before

00:16the election in the country, and we now welcome Juan Carlos Valareso, his chair of the International

00:22Relations Department at the Catholic University of Ecuador.

00:25Thank you, Juan Carlos, for joining us here in From the South.

00:30Thank you very much for having me.

00:32So Juan Carlos, tell us, what do we know at this point about what's coming on Sunday?

00:39Well, what we do know for sure is that this may end up in a runoff between the two top

00:47candidates.

00:49There are over 16 candidates running for the presidential election, however it is well

00:56known that there are two that are at the top, Daniel Novoa and the contestant contender

01:02Elisa González.

01:06So just to get a little bit deeper into what is going on in Ecuador, we have been seeing

01:12a year that was marked by different sort of crisis, and insecurity is one of the main

01:18topics in the country.

01:20So tell us, how does that play into this election?

01:24We've been seeing different measures taken by President Novoa in the last few days.

01:29How do you see this impacting the results on Sunday?

01:35I consider that this is the definite topic that will determine who people vote for, right?

01:43I think it's very important, the fact that we analyze how the candidates have addressed

01:50the issue of insecurity on the part of Daniel Novoa, we see a continuation of a policy that

01:56has proven not to be that effective, right?

02:00The militarization of the conflict and the problem has turned out into more violence.

02:06There's now evidence that the criminal organizations have become stronger and they are now

02:13more present all over the country.

02:15So apparently his approach has not resulted in the expected results.

02:22In addition to that, the proposals that Elisa González gave are not that clear regarding

02:29how to control the problem with insecurity and drug trafficking.

02:34Her speech resembles a lot to the speech from the Revolución Ciudadana's era 10, 15

02:42years ago.

02:43So in my view, I think it also needs to adapt to the current demands of the people.

02:49We have to consider that there are a number of people that are undecided and still haven't

02:54made up their mind about who to vote for.

02:58So we are trying to, just day before the elections, bring to our international audience just the

03:03key topics to understand the situation in Ecuador before this polls.

03:09So the energy crisis has also been on the news, both nationally and internationally.

03:15So I wanted to ask you, what is the situation at the moment in this regard?

03:19And again, how could this impact the results on Sunday?

03:25Well, I think what Ecuador went through in the last year or so, with the blackouts and

03:35the lack of energy in different parts of the country due to climate change and stuff, but

03:41also I would agree with many that consider that it is also a mismanagement of the resources,

03:48of that planning of the issue.

03:52How Daniel Navarro handled it, I think, was very reactive.

03:57I don't think it was propositive.

04:00I don't think it was proactive in terms of looking at different solutions, and the ones

04:05that were taken seem to have cut the problem, but not to the root, because the engineers'

04:15Association has already said that it is very likely that we'll have blackouts again in

04:22April.

04:24The problem here is a very complex one, because we need energy, we need different sources,

04:30alternative sources of energy as well, and that's something that they need to consider.

04:35And from what you are saying, I gather that one of the key aspects to get into and analyze

04:42what's happening on Sunday has to do with how the people evaluate how the current president

04:49has dealt with this sort of crisis in the country.

04:52So of course, Ecuador is at an exceptional mandate at the moment, because actually Luisa

04:58González and also Daniel Navarro faced each other just a couple of years ago to end what

05:05was Lasso's term.

05:07So this situation may be repeated on Sunday.

05:10How does this moment compare to that one in which, of course, Daniel Navarro was the winner?

05:16And how could what you were saying in terms of the evaluation of this short mandate come

05:22to play at what will be a new edition of that poll?

05:27Well, I think you're totally right.

05:32A lot of people are evaluating now Daniel Navarro's actions as a president, and many

05:38are disenchanted with what he proposed and what he did.

05:41In fact, we see that he still has a very strong base of supporters.

05:46In fact, he leads all of the polls previous to last week that were officially over.

05:54And it says a lot as well about the bases that support Luisa González, which is also

06:03a very strong base, but also with the context of supporting Rafael Correa, right?

06:10So we see here a polarization of support.

06:13However, what's grown in the last year, I think it's the number of people that are undecided.

06:19This will be the determining factor to see whether Daniel Navarro or Luisa González

06:25end up in the first place.

06:27Many speculate that this will be a victory in the first ballot of the election.

06:34I highly doubt that, but we'll see because, as you know, with the recent elections in

06:40the U.S. as well, polls are really not to be trusted that much.

06:46Excellent.

06:47So thank you so much, Juan Carlos Valares.

06:50So we were talking about the elections that are coming on Sunday.

06:53It's a pleasure to have you here in From the South.

06:57Thank you very much for having me.

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