The sectional elections in the province of Azuay ended with a very narrow margin. The winner of the Mayor’s Office of Cuenca took a point ahead of his closest rival and for the Prefecture the difference was 0.41 points.
The minutes have already been scrutinized in their entirety and both Cristian Zamora Matute and Juan Cristóbal Lloret have already talked about their work plans.
Pedro Solines, former superintendent and correísmo candidate, wins the Milagro Mayor’s Office and leaves behind José Francisco Cevallos and his son Francisco Andrés
Such a tight victory in sectional elections has been something rarely seen in the political history of Cuenca, since until the 2019 elections the margin of distance between the winner and loser averaged at least eight points.
However, for this occasion the dispersion of the vote generated more narrowness among the candidates and only in the early hours of this Monday, February 6, the winners of the electoral day that took place on Sunday the 5th were known.
With all the minutes scrutinized, the popular will favored Cristian Zamora, representative of Izquierda Democrática and Mover (former Alianza País) with 18.54% of the vote, leaving behind Pedro Palacios (Nueva Generación) who was seeking re-election but which was left with 17.51%, this is barely 1.03% difference between one and the other.
In his first statements as elected mayor, Zamora ratified his main campaign offer: cancel the radar contract signed by the current administration.
When he walked the streets to convince people, he was radical when he said that he would terminate said contract, but this Monday morning he was a little more cautious when he affirmed that he is open to dialogue with the representatives of the awarded Consortium and “an issue of mutual agreement”, but if there is not, it will proceed to declare them non-compliant contractors.
Another issue in which it was ratified and which will apply immediately, as soon as it takes office, is to install checkpoints in the areas near the Turi Deprivation of Liberty Center so that no highly dangerous inmates who are not from Azuay, Cañar or Morona Santiago is transferred there.
This, he said, with the purpose of maintaining this prison with its initial conception of regional, not national.
Zamora has been a critic of the current national government, but as an elected authority he announced that he will implement dialogue tables where the social, political, cultural and academic sectors of the city participate to present urgent needs to the authorities, but which are also related to the contribution that the city makes based on the taxes paid to “stop receiving crumbs”, in economic terms.
The Prefecture of Azuay was left in the hands of the Citizen Revolution through the candidate Juan Cristóbal Lloret, who in recent years has held various public positions of political trust or popular election as Governor of Azuay, Coordinator of the Secretariat of Politics and Assembly member for two periods.
He also triumphed with a narrow margin over his follower who was 0.41 points ahead of the vote.
He said that among the approaches that he considers convinced the Azuayos is a work plan with three fundamental axes: citizen security, road and digital connectivity.
In addition to the generation of employment through plans and projects framed within the Popular and Solidarity Economy. During the interview held this Monday morning, she did not want to give details of these initiatives, because he will do so later in a press conference.
Lloret has also been a constant questioner of the government of Guillermo Lasso, even so he said that as an authority he will maintain a cordial but firm relationship. This also includes other internal political actors such as councillors, members of Parish Councils or cantonal mayors, even if they do not agree with his political line.
Among the big losers of the day are Paul Carrasco, candidate for Mayor of Cuenca who in 2023 represented the Government Party. On this occasion he was in fourth place in preferences.
Leonardo Orlando, prefect of Manabí, brings together a majority of votes for his re-election and alleges that “the trend is irreversible”
With this he adds three defeats in a row, in 2019 he also came in fourth place for the Mayor’s Office, in 2021 he placed last in the presidential elections and in this 2023 he was defeated again.
Along the same lines is Marcelo Cabrera, Guillermo Lasso’s former Minister of Transportation and Public Works, who aspired to reach his third Prefecture. His political life began in 2016. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
