Electoral campaign starts with citizen indecision

Ecuadornews:

On Tuesday, February 5, the period to elect 11,069 authorities, between principals and substitutes, will begin on March 24. The process will begin with 68.1% of the population without defining their vote. The CNE will make propaganda for the Participation Council.

On Tuesday, February 5, the electoral campaign for the sectional elections begins on March 24. It will also start the campaign for the Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCCS). The National Electoral Council (CNE) will be the only institution to promote the 43 candidates.

From Tuesday, February 5 to March 21, the aspirants and their political organizations must tune in with the citizens. At the moment there is apathy of the voters. This is revealed by the measurements of the polling companies. According to Cedatos, 68.1% of Ecuadorians do not know who to vote for, while 31.9% have already been defined.

In Quito there are 18 candidates for the Mayor’s Office. The pollster reveals that 75.8% still do not choose a candidate while 24.2% already defined their vote. José Vásquez, candidate for Mayor of Quito for the Acción Democrática Ecuatoriana movement, said that those numbers allow not so well-known candidates to get more votes. “You have to know how to get to the voter,” he said.

What he said, depends on what the surveys establish. According to Click Research, 32.6% of people in Quito recognize that the problem of the city is the migration of foreigners. They are also concerned about insecurity, the poor state of the streets and access to health. Similar to the capital, in Guayaquil there are 17 candidates for the Armchair of Olmedo.

One of them will replace Jaime Nebot, who has been in office for 19 years. Cedatos reported that in that city, 49.4% of the population still does not choose an option. 50.6% have already chosen one of the 17 options.

Click Research reveals that 43.4% of the people of Guayaquil consider that the main problem is the situation of foreigners. For the prefectures there is also indecision. At the national level, according to Cedatos, 74.3% of the population is not decided by a prefect. Only 25.7% already know how they will vote.

Concerns

Assemblymen and candidates assured that the CNE has been in debt in this process. They regretted that that will leave the results in doubt. The assembly member and president of the Democratic Left, Wilma Andrade, commented that the OAS, the UN and the European Union were not invited to observe the electoral process. “We will be like Venezuela that is absurd. They are unreasonable measures and do not give confidence to the voter, “said Andrade.

The candidates for the Participation Council also showed their concern with the electoral body’s methodologies. They regretted that they cannot make their own campaign in national media and that the CNE spot will be only 30 seconds. “It will be very complicated to summarize my proposals and career in less than 30 seconds,” said Ibeth Estupiñán, candidate for the Participation Council.

The CNE will allocate $ 4.5 million for the promotion of the candidates to the Council. Each applicant will have 140 spots on television and 1,468 spots on the radio.

Political apathy

Two election campaign consultants said that there is currently low interest of the public for politics. For Harry Darquea Olvera, electoral campaign strategist, the voter’s indecision and apathy is given for three reasons: the campaign starts tomorrow, due to the large number of candidates and ballots and the lack of information about the process.

He acknowledged that “the elector lost faith and hope for the candidates, who, on the other hand, do not offer tangible and possible things to the citizens”. Instead, the consultant Angélica Ribadeneira said that acts of corruption in the upper echelons of power will create a scenario for candidates to base their proposals on emotions. “Citizens end up choosing from emotion and not from reason. Candidates should focus on that particularity, “he said. (I)

Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/politica/3/campana-electoral-indecision-apatia-ciudadana