The 77% of the active voting population of Guayaquil (those who are 16 years of age or older) is concentrated in 25 urban areas or sectors distributed by the National Electoral Council (CNE) for the elections on February 5.
The first ten positions of this top 25 are occupied by the populated areas of Tarqui, Ximena, Febres Cordero and Letamendi in the parishes of the same name, but it is also distributed in Pradera, García Moreno, Pascuales, Acuarela-Sauces, Flor de Bastión and Las Orquídeas-Mucho Lotin your order.
Below are Popular Bastion, Carbo/Concepción, Urdaneta, La Prosperina, Martha de Roldós, Isla Trinitaria, Paraíso de la Flor, Juan Montalvo, Los Ceibos, Alborada, Ayacucho, Sucre, road to the coast, Rocafuerte and El Cóndor.
The number of voters in the urban area of Guayaquil is declining, according to CNE records. For the 2017 presidential elections, 1,952,947 voters were counted, while in 2023 there are 1,950,205, a drop of 0.14%.
The urban parishes of Olmedo/San Alejo, Carbo/Concepción, Nueve de Octubre, Ayacucho, Roca, Sucre, García Moreno, Bolívar/Sagrario, Urdaneta, Rocafuerte, Letamendi, Febres Cordero and Ximena have lost voters between 2017 and 2023 in percentages that they range from -25.72% to -0.70%, in their order.
Only the urban parishes of Pascuales and Tarqui, in the north of the city, register voter increases of 25% and 8%, respectively.
The The causes of this decrease respond to geographical situations, but also at the time to the lack of supply of housing projects within the urban area of the city.
The Expansion stops to the south with the Manglares El Salado Fauna Production Reservewhich is part of the national system of protected areas.
While the eastern margin is bordered by the Daule and Guayas rivers, which separate Guayaquil from the Samborondón, Daule and Durán cantons.
The expansion zone is to the northwest and west in the Tarqui and Pascuales parishes, which are precisely the only urban ones that have registered an increase in voters in the last six years.
However, an important portion of the Guayaquil population now lives outside the urban limits of the canton, such as La Aurora parish in Daule or in the Samborondón canton.
La Aurora is the parish in the country that has registered the most increase in voters since 2017 with an increase of 158%, going from 14,507 to 37,440 voters for the last elections on February 5.
In the Samborondón canton there is an increase of 13.4% in the same period, going from 57,754 to 65,497 voters.
All the cantons bordering Guayaquil, such as Daule (24.3%), Playas (16%), Nobol (15%), Yaguachi (14%), Salitre (9%) and Durán (7%) registered increases.
Political analyst Madeleine Molina grew up in the Bolívar/Sagrario parish, in the center-south of Guayaquil, one of the urban parishes that loses the most population in the city (-18.7%). Five of her relatives have already left the place. They now live in the Playas canton.
One of the challenges of the new municipal administration is to get Guayaquileños to return to the traditional parishes of the city, especially those in the center and its surroundings. Also promote vertical growth with housing projects in the areas where the population comes from. In addition, says Molina, establish a broader perspective to conceive a joint development plan in the so-called Greater Guayaquil, which includes the capital of Guayas and the surrounding cantons to which it is connected through bridges over rivers and roads.
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“Although there are fewer voters in the urban areas of Guayaquil, I believe that there will be even less participation from those summoned because there are people who are leaving the country due to the lack of opportunities,” he indicates.
Urban planning as such is needed, he adds. “Some do not feel comfortable due to factors such as insecurity rates. People perceive that the planning of the city does not respond to the rights of good living that is part of the Constitution, it is assumed that all projects at all levels of government have to respond to this concept”, assures Molina.
Guayaquil is a city that grew due to migration starting in the 18th century from colonial times before the Republic of Ecuador was established, according to publications on the Las Peñas neighborhood of that time, says Molina, an area where they arrived foreigners and neighboring regions. “It is a cohesion of internal and external migrants.” (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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