There are eight candidacies, and seven were registered by parties or movements to which they do not belong; many have neither followers nor national leaders, they are owned by some political entrepreneur. The candidate succeeds in enrolling; a businessman operates in some economic cases, and in others political: he can reach the Assembly thanks to his identification with the candidate. Sonnenholzner, Villavicencio, Hervas and Noboa were registered with such memoranda.

In Ecuador, ‘party’ is a bad word, we have above all ‘movements’, the very name tells them that they are something temporary.

The Socialist, the last survivor of the ideological parties of the 20th century, supports Yaku, who is neither affiliated nor ideologically connected. His alliance with the movement brings him to sponsor Virgilio Saquicela in Cañaro, who is not exactly a socialist.

The PSC has been a caudillo party since its foundation: Camilo Ponce, Sixto, León and Nebot. For the first time, he nominates a candidate who is strange to him: Topić, who also has the support of the Centro Democrático, a former ally of Correísmo and a contradiction of the PSC in the last decade. Nebot and Jairala are campaigning together.

The most organized and superior caudillo movement is the RC, which operates under the banner of UNES. The primaries were held in a Brussels loft, from which Rafael Correa announced González, from the ranks of the RC, emphasizing his loyalty.

This time only one of the eight is a filler.

The two groups that most resemble the classic party, ID and Pachakutik, could not define their candidacies. Like real parties, there are factions fighting for control. But they suffer from a national evil: the factions failed to reach a compromise and were left out of the election.

ID was founded by Córdova Galarza, Llur’s sons, as a social democratic party. It had several figures, among which Rodrigo Borja stands out. They looked good in 2021, but failed to function as a party in the Assembly and fought with Hervas, who played a big role in the presidential election.

Pachakutik is today the best organized party, from time to time it holds elections to renew its leadership. Duty leaders are the ones who control it. In 2021, they reached the second largest legislative bloc. But today the anti-democratic faction is trying to control the party by violence

and led to the expulsion of Yaku Pérez, its best candidate in history.

This has to change. There is no government without parties. In communist countries like China and Cuba, there is only one. There are several of them in representative democracies, and in the most stable ones, Spain, Great Britain, Germany, Japan and the USA, among others, two prevail.

To remedy this situation, we need to establish a primary election day, a voluntary weekday vote, where party leaders are elected. Those who do not receive a certain number of votes will not be able to register their candidacy. Elections for deputies must be held in districts where one or two are elected, in two rounds. That way we will know which member of parliament must call us to account, and two blocs, pro-government and opposition, would be dominant in the assembly. End of renting representatives.

But how to achieve this change? (OR)