Ecuador: political parties without conviction have a short lifespan – 2024-03-30 21:03:02

Although life itself is ephemeral, political organizations suffer a similar fate. From 2008 to 2023, 317 political stores have been registered and re-registered in the National Electoral Council (CNE), of these 17.3% have not been able to continue. Political analysts and electoral experts believe that it is due to the crisis that these organizations have not been able to overcome, which already has data.

Although, the average lifespan of these 55 political organizations is 6.3 years – according to data provided by the CNE-, if we break it down by the area in which they participate, the highest rate of political groups eliminated corresponds to national parties and/or movements: 39.2%. They are followed by the provincials with 25.2%. Then, the parochial ones with 19% and at the end, the cantonal ones with 9.6%.

On the other hand, of the total political organizations that were cancelled, the cantonal ones are the ones that have lasted the longest, on average: 8.1 years. But the national ones are the ones with the least time on average: 4 years.

For Francisco Montahuano, political scientist, researcher and teacher, this is because, at the local level, the functioning of these groups has a better political performance, that is, there is a better representation of the electorate, as well as their demands. Also, leadership tends more towards the community, “generating greater cohesion.” But the parties that have a greater national presence and in the cities, and are broader, “tend to generate an issue of caudillismo and personalism”, which is harmful, because, by not forming cadres, it makes the group It depends on these figures, he explains.

This is because the party system does not work, he says. Wilmer Suárez, director of the Electoral and Social Observatory of the Eloy Alfaro Secular University of Manabí. “We continue to have the same vices since the return to democracy; We are talking about 45 years.” And although the 2008 Constitution, through the twelfth transitional provision, provided that political parties and movements had to re-register, in order for the effective number of political parties to be reduced, it did not achieve this. In his opinion, the reform was unsuccessful.

However, the groups themselves would be to blame for this deterioration, because they have no interest in having a permanent life, he assures. Fausto Camacho, electoral expert, coordinator of the Citizen Electoral Observatory and member Voices for Democracy. This is because they do not speak out on current issues, but only on electoral issues.

The reason, Montahuano emphasizes, is because they function as electoral rental machinery that are activated months before the elections. This, “because they choose their candidates, complying in a forced manner with what the Code of Democracy, to choose dignities and compete in elections. This is why they are not interested in generating cohesion at the civil level,” he adds.

This is why, before 2008, Suárez indicates, it was very common for groups to appear and then disappear. Neither did they have adequate internal training processes nor was there internal democracy within the parties, complaint; but rather “they were organizations that were only interested in participating for a specific moment in the elections,” says the political scientist.

Among the political groups that had a brief passage in the electoral contests are: Independent Movement for an Authentic Republic (MIRA), with which Rosalía Arteaga participated, in 1998; Ethics and Democracy Network, founded by León Roldós for his candidacy in 2006; The Triunfo Mil movement, in 2009, nominated Carlos Sagnay.

Added to this is that the practices of the groups themselves cause them to distance themselves from society and lose their function in the system of democratic representation: being the transmission belts of the needs and aspirations of society towards the state, in the exercise of power, says Camacho. And to restore their trust in the reader’s imagination, several organizations change their letterheads; But the CNE should not allow this, says Suárez. Even more so when they re-register with the same leadership. “There should be transparent information for the voter.”

Furthermore, Montahuano highlights that the oversupply of political organizations that respond to the same ideological spectrum also influences their temporality, since they do not achieve a significant percentage of voting on the ballot. Pichincha It is the province where the most political stores have been canceled: six; It currently has 22 approved local organizations.

To strengthen this system, Suárez and Camacho suggest that the national political parties and cantonal and parish movements are suppressed. Although for this a constitutional amendment must be made, says Camacho.

Furthermore, political organizations are obliged to carry out primary electionsopen mandatory elections so that only those who reach 1.5% support can go to the elections, suggests Camacho. This, he says, ensures true representation and that there is no misuse of funds.

Source: KCH