El Dia de las Elecciones

So yesterday was the presidential elections in Ecuador. It was a crazy event, completely different from elections in the United States. This was actually run off, as the elections last month had narrowed the canditates to two from the original 13! Everyone in Ecuador is requried to vote, with the consequences draconian if you refuse. This dramatically changes the complexion of the experience, completely eliminating the need for get out the vote operations. It also makes the vote of poor ecuadorians unbelievably important, since approximately 95% of ecuadorians are poor. On a final note, there is a liquor ban in ecuador 48 hours before any election, where hard alcohol and beer cannot be sold. However, the ban does not include wine, which is apparently a soft drink and therefore does not matter.

The election pitted Rafael Correa, a leftist semi-socialist economist intellectual who considers himself friends with Hugo Chavez and who wants to decrease Ecuadorian dependence on the United States against Albero Noboa, the billionaire banana tycoon who is the richest man in Ecuador, owns 114 companies, and who touts his ties with the richest men in the United States. Many of the Ecuadorians I spoke to really liked neither candidate, some even going so far as to cancel their vote, meaning they showed up to the booth and then deliberately chose neither.

I have the fortune of having one the main election booths in Quito right next door to my apartment, and therefore got to watch the full glory up close. The entire street leading to the booth turned into a fiesta, full of food stands, various other stands, and my favorite, a jumping pen for children. The street was absolutely packed with from 9Am when voting began to 5PM when it finally closed. Imagine if the parking lot of the voting booths in the United States were full of people, food, and fun, utter craziness.

Anyways, when the polls finally closed Correa won the election, capturing 57% of the vote. His victory party was just 5 blocks from my house on La Avenida de Shyris, which was awesome because it meant that I got to go and take more pictures. Although Correa himself was not until much later, being kept away by speeches in TV interviews, I got to experience the insanity of the atmosphere. There were tons of people, many dressed in lime green or waving lime green flags, that being the color of Correa's campaign. To go along with the lime green there was a huge stage where bands were playing salsa and other music, music which everyone in the crowd seemed to know the words and were happy to sing along. Vendors were moving through the crowd as they do in any event, selling beer, wine, cigarettes, and anything else you could want. Everyone was dancing, pumping fists, cheering, chanting, all in all is was incredibly exciting.

After it was over I was left wishing campaigns and elections happened all the time, but then I reminded myself that instead of election day we would probably have coup day within the year. No elected president in the last 16 years in Ecuador has actually completed a term, so it would be no surprise in the next year if Correa was overthrown. Apparently once you lose the army you lose the country, or something along those lines.

Still, I have hopes for Ecuador's newest president. Although critics tend to dismiss him as in the mold of Chavez, he at least for now is making at effort at being more moderate. He actually has an advanced degree from the U of Illinois and Harvard in Economics, interesting given his strong disagreement with the United States. Also, at this point in time, any change is good change. Corruption in government here is unbelievably high, and the government has almost completely failed in helping the plight of the countries significant poor population. Viva Ecuador!