Previous Story
Political Parties prefer famous candidates and celebrities
Posted On 20 Dec 2018
Ecuadornews:
The lack of preparation of new cadres in the parties and movements forces to look for external characters. That way they avoid the job of making propaganda in the campaign. A few hours after the deadline for the registration of candidacies, the electoral movement for registration before the National Electoral Council (CNE) is agitated.
Until this Wednesday, December 19, in the provincial delegations of the electoral body, the rhetoric of the “few registered candidates and many advertised candidates” persisted. For the political scientist and professor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (Flacso), Santiago Basabe, this phenomenon occurs “because they do not have political actors in their organizations. This orphanage has increased in the last 10 years, so the option is to choose someone different from politics. “
An example of this is in Cuenca. Until the closing of this report there was not a single candidate registered for the City Hall of the city, although in previous days Paúl Carrasco, of Juntos Podemos, prefect of Azuay; Jefferson Pérez, of Renace; and Marcelo Cabrera, from the CREO and Equality alliance, presented themselves as postulants. Rommel Salazar, provincial director of PAIS in Guayas, said that they did not announce candidacies, since they were working on “the election of their best cadres”.
Afterwards, he gave an eventual support to the candidacy of Jimmy Jairala, from the Democratic Center, under the guise of an alliance. And finally, he presented Simón Bolívar Rosero as his pre-candidate for mayor of Guayaquil last week. However, Rosero was announced in March as a letter from the Patriotic Society (PSP) party and in November he declined his candidacy. “The new provincial PSP board did not support his nomination,” and therefore will take legal action against them, he warned.
But what is the voter looking for in a candidate? The political scientist Oswaldo Moreno responds that “people almost always request or wait for an applicant who has experience in public administration.” However, Alfredo Dávalos, a political consultant, points out that he cannot apply the same formula for each city. “There are cities where there is an appeal to experience, and others that have had a bad experience with mayors or young managers, such as the case of Quito,” he explains.
For example, in the sectionals of 2014, Mauricio Rodas, of SUMA, won the elections before Augusto Barrera, of AP, who opted for re-election. After almost four years of management of Rhodes, pollsters such as Cedatos and Perfiles de Opinión place it with an average of 25% acceptance.
In Guayaquil, the topic of continuity and experience is invoked, where a new candidate will hardly fit, adds Dávalos. In this case, the Social Christian-Wood Party of Guerrero (PSC-MG) registered its ex-assemblywoman Cynthia Viteri. She must continue with the work left by Jaime Nebot, mayor of Guayaquil during four administrations, from 2000 to 2019. He has an acceptance that exceeds 70%, according to Cedatos and Perfiles de Opinión.
The candidates for councilors are, for the most part, well-known figures of television: Jorge Rodríguez, Andrés Guschmer, Úrsula Strenge, Carlos Luis Morales and Mayra Montaño. That tendency towards the characters of the small screen has an explanation. Organizations no longer need to advertise or advertise them. “They use these figures instead of betting on new paintings,” says Dávalos.
But the problem is not the screen figures or old politicians, but the absence of cadres in the parties and movements. “The party system has collapsed for a long time, not only in the last 10 years,” says political scientist Moreno. Another problem is the lack of preparation of politicians.
This is what Basabe says, who recommends taking the political career seriously, like any other profession. “It is little credible that a person, without greater analytical capacity to know policy issues, make decisions for a population,” says.
Moreno agrees: if young people had a political education, certain disappointments would be avoided by the time they reach public administration. However, there are candidates who show their city projects beyond political organizations.
There are also parties and movements that target young candidates, accompanied by teams of experienced advisers. For example, CREO appointed Juan Carlos Holguín, who has no past as a militant, as a candidate for mayor of Quito. Why? According to the analysts consulted, there is a perception that a young candidate can bring fresh ideas to a city. However, that decision can also reverse the results because the applicant is not known. “This has nothing to do with ethics, values or principles. People can be honest, but if they do not have basic knowledge they cannot make political decisions, “explains Basabe.
The lists privilege the man
In the first place 24 hours after the registration closes and in the absence of a definite tabulation on the number of female candidates for dignity, a high percentage of male and female candidates are seen in media and social networks.
Although the number will be defined after the inscriptions, for the teacher of the Catholic University of Guayaquil, Andrea Ocaña, this preliminary fact is nothing more than the continuation of a common practice in each process.
She says that although alternability guarantees a certain space of participation for women, it is not enough for several factors. First, there are collateral actions, such as little or no political training towards the citizen and that is deepened in women.
“In addition, women are still relegated to the domestic space, so when they are in the audience their voice is not always heard with the same force as the male voice,” she adds. And another fact is that the lists, usually, are headed by a man. “As we have a method of allocation of seats that privileges the first places, it usually arrives or wins first on the list,” she says. (I)
