>Ecuador dissolved two opposition political parties ahead of local elections in November, a move critics decried as another sign of the South American country’s democratic backsliding under President Daniel Noboa.
>“It’s completely illegal,” said former lawmaker and Construye party member Jorge Peñafiel. “The National Electoral Council is working like a political tool of the government.”
>During a rare Sunday morning board meeting, CNE President Diana Atamaint said the body had no choice but to dissolve the parties because of their alleged dwindled membership, adding that they were given the opportunity to defend themselves.
>Representatives of the two affected parties said electoral law forbids the CNE from eliminating a party less than 120 days before the July 30 formal call for elections, which are scheduled for Nov. 29.
>Construye will appeal to the Electoral Disputes Court and the Constitutional Court before resorting to international tribunals, Peñafiel said.
>UP, which is close to labor unions, has a decades-long history in Ecuadorian politics, while Construye participated in three presidential elections, including the one in which Villavicencio was killed, undermining the claim of insufficient membership, said political scientist Ruth Hidalgo.
>Hidalgo heads Participación Ciudadana, a non-governmental organization that last year researched the nation’s nearly 230 political organizations and found that dozens only existed on paper. That was not the case with UP and Construye, Hidalgo said.
>“Why the rush of the National Electoral Council if this really has to do with a technical issue?” she added.
>The parties’ dissolution comes after the CNE suspended the nation’s biggest opposition party, left-wing Revolución Ciudadana, from participating in the upcoming elections because of allegations of illegal campaign financing, which the party denies.
>The CNE has said it has acted on firm legal ground and denied favoring Noboa’s Democratic National Action party, or ADN.
>The dissolution of the parties “is not an isolated act, but a way of governing and of eliminating any kind of opposition,” said political scientist Sofía Cordero. “It goes against minimally transparent and fair elections.”
>The CNE has already faced criticism for advancing the date of the local elections by three months, alleging risks to voting from a forecast for a strong El Niño climate phenomenon, which in the past has caused heavy flooding in the South American nation.
>Construye will explore legal options and if all else fails seek to endorse a democratic candidate, Peñafiel said.
>Noboa — one of US President Donald Trump’s close allies in Latin America — has denied that changing the date of the elections will benefit ADN. Atamaint has said that all parties face the same administrative challenges in fielding candidates for Ecuador’s more than 200 local and two dozen provincial administrations.
>The CNE’s intervention in the current campaign will leave voters questioning the outcome of the elections, but could also move some to rally around alternative candidates, analysts said.
>“It’s a pretty risky play on the part of the government party,” Hidalgo said.
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Worth noting that both parties only won a single seat each in the last parliamentary election.
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>Ecuador dissolved two opposition political parties ahead of local elections in November, a move critics decried as another sign of the South American country’s democratic backsliding under President Daniel Noboa.
>The National Electoral Council, or CNE, said membership in the parties, left-wing Unión Popular, or UP, and centrist Construye, had fallen below a required minimum threshold. Construye’s past presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, was [assassinated](https://archive.ph/o/XAJaW/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-10/ecuador-braces-for-fallout-of-presidential-candidate-s-killing) in 2023.
>“It’s completely illegal,” said former lawmaker and Construye party member Jorge Peñafiel. “The National Electoral Council is working like a political tool of the government.”
>During a rare Sunday morning board meeting, CNE President Diana Atamaint said the body had no choice but to dissolve the parties because of their alleged dwindled membership, adding that they were given the opportunity to defend themselves.
>Representatives of the two affected parties said electoral law forbids the CNE from eliminating a party less than 120 days before the July 30 formal call for elections, which are scheduled for Nov. 29.
>Construye will appeal to the Electoral Disputes Court and the Constitutional Court before resorting to international tribunals, Peñafiel said.
>UP, which is close to labor unions, has a decades-long history in Ecuadorian politics, while Construye participated in three presidential elections, including the one in which Villavicencio was killed, undermining the claim of insufficient membership, said political scientist Ruth Hidalgo.
>Hidalgo heads Participación Ciudadana, a non-governmental organization that last year researched the nation’s nearly 230 political organizations and found that dozens only existed on paper. That was not the case with UP and Construye, Hidalgo said.
>“Why the rush of the National Electoral Council if this really has to do with a technical issue?” she added.
>The parties’ dissolution comes after the CNE suspended the nation’s biggest opposition party, left-wing Revolución Ciudadana, from participating in the upcoming elections because of allegations of illegal campaign financing, which the party denies.
>The CNE has said it has acted on firm legal ground and denied favoring Noboa’s Democratic National Action party, or ADN.
>The dissolution of the parties “is not an isolated act, but a way of governing and of eliminating any kind of opposition,” said political scientist Sofía Cordero. “It goes against minimally transparent and fair elections.”
>The CNE has already faced criticism for advancing the date of the local elections by three months, alleging risks to voting from a forecast for a strong El Niño climate phenomenon, which in the past has caused heavy flooding in the South American nation.
>Construye will explore legal options and if all else fails seek to endorse a democratic candidate, Peñafiel said.
>Noboa — one of US President Donald Trump’s close allies in Latin America — has denied that changing the date of the elections will benefit ADN. Atamaint has said that all parties face the same administrative challenges in fielding candidates for Ecuador’s more than 200 local and two dozen provincial administrations.
>The CNE’s intervention in the current campaign will leave voters questioning the outcome of the elections, but could also move some to rally around alternative candidates, analysts said.
>“It’s a pretty risky play on the part of the government party,” Hidalgo said.
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Worth noting that both parties only won a single seat each in the last parliamentary election.