Ecuador sets a record for presidential candidates with 17 registered for the 2021 elections

A supporter of former President Correa, during a rally last September in Quito.Jose Jacome / EFE

The possibility that former President Rafael Correa might or might not participate in the next Ecuadorian elections and, once disqualified, the risk that his running mates would be disqualified, captured the attention throughout the warm-up of the presidential race towards 2021. But Now, once the registration period is over, the union of the Union for Hope (UNES), which shelters the supporters of Correísmo, is one of the 17 candidates for the elections to be held on February 7 .

Andrés Arauz and Carlos Rabascall, the pairing promoted by Correa, are already on the list of registered, as well as the alliance between Guillermo Lasso's CREO movement and the Social Christian Party, the two political forces most opposed to the PAIS Alliance de Correa during his administration.

The ones to come are the presidential and legislative elections with more applicants since Ecuador returned to democracy in 1979. Only in three of the last 11 calls, there have been more than ten options to choose from at the polls: in 1992 (with 12 pairs) , in 2002 (with 11) and in 2006 (with 13).

The 17 possibilities are now in the hands of the National Electoral Council that must verify if they meet all the requirements and give a deadline to receive eventual challenges.

And that is just what the correista proposal has done to remove his main opponent, Guillermo Lasso, from the board before the presidential race begins.

The UNES alliance has objected to the decision of the electoral authority to consider that candidacy as good, alluding that the businessman - who is on his third attempt to reach the Carondelet palace - is prevented from participating in the elections because he has ties to tax havens .

The CNE dismissed the challenge due to lack of evidence, but the Arauz-Rabascall coalition has filed an appeal that is now in the hands of the contentious electoral tribunal.

UNES also had to correct application errors before being admitted to the registry of candidacies, since the candidate to succeed Lenín Moreno in the presidency, Andrés Arauz, presented an identity card of another person instead of his own when delivering the documentation.

In addition, the organization had to replace Rafael Correa in the vice president's formula for the former public television journalist Carlos Rabascall, due to the political disqualification that weighs on the ex-president for his sentence to eight years in prison in a bribery case.

From now until the electoral campaign formally begins in December, the 17 registered pairs have three months to consolidate upon receiving approval from the CNE or to exhaust the administrative procedures on the resources received.

Only two candidates have already secured their quota for the elections: Democracia Sí and Izquierda Democrática.

The United Ecuadorian option will be added to that list this Friday, unless it receives a last minute claim.

Among the fortnight that still requires the final officialization, are the PAIS Alliance, which has ideologically distanced itself from the Government of Lenín Moreno, and Pachakutik, the political side of the indigenous movement that a year ago led a wave of protests in the country .

Meanwhile, and despite the covid-19 pandemic, political movements have already begun their tours of the provinces to publicize the content of their programs.