CNE blocks Rafael Correa's candidacy for vice presidency

Confirm sentence to 8 years in prison against Rafael Correa 5:19

(CNN Spanish) -

Former President Rafael Correa will not be a candidate for the vice presidency of Ecuador for the February 2021 elections.

That was the resolution of the National Electoral Council (CNE) at dawn this Thursday.

The councilors who voted in favor of this decision argued that Correa, who has resided in Belgium since 2017, does not meet the requirements to be able to run, as he is "disqualified" from participating in the electoral contest due to having an enforceable sentence of 8 years of prison for the crime of aggravated bribery.

The CNE gave a period of 48 hours for the 'correísmo' to carry out a “correction”, that is, to change its candidate for the vice presidency for another person and to amend the identity card number of the candidate for the presidency Andrés Arauz who would participate for the Democratic Center Movement.

• Ecuador's justice orders the capture of former President Rafael Correa

Correa, Glas and more, sentenced to prison for Odebrecht case 2:08

Former President Rafael Correa said on his Twitter account that the "CNE could not eliminate the binomial of hope" and that this decision is a "decisive step".

In his publication, Correa showed who would be his replacement as a candidate for the vice presidency, the journalist Carlos Rabascall.

For his part, Rabascall wrote on Twitter that "a first obstacle has been overcome on this path to recover the homeland."

During the Electoral Council session, the councilors Luis Verdesoto and Enrique Pita, asked that the nomination of the correista duo made up of Andrés Arauz as a candidate for the presidency and Rafael Correa for the vice presidency be rejected.

The counselors assured that Correa, apart from being disqualified, did not have the quality of a pre-candidate since the acceptance of his candidacy had to be done in person in Ecuador and that he could not be replaced by another candidate.

However, the majority of the CNE voted to rectify the candidacy.

• Rafael Correa tries, through his sister, to register his candidacy for the vice-presidency from Belgium

The sentence to 8 years in prison against Rafael Correa and other defendants for the crime of aggravated bribery has been firm since September 23, the date on which the trial court of the National Court of Justice also asked the National Police the location and capture of Correa to serve his sentence.

Former president Correa was sentenced by the National Court of Justice, because according to the judges, Correa and the other convicts participated from 2012 to 2016 in a criminal structure to illegally receive money from Odebrecht and other companies for their political movement in exchange for contracts for the execution of works.

Correa has rejected these accusations against him and has assured that he will go to international bodies.

Rafael Correa