Many Ecuadorians experienced a feeling of satisfaction as they celebrated the triumph of the middle-class economist Rafael Correa over the multimillionaire banana magnate Alvaro Noboa, who failed in his third attempt to become president.

According to the results of three exit surveys by national television stations and a quick count done by an NGO, Correa obtained a margin of 14 to16 points over Noboa in the second round that took place Nov. 26.1

The first results left no doubt. A broad political and citizen's movement backed Correa in the second round (including parties such as the Pachakutik, Popular Democratic Movement (MPD), Socialist Party, and Democratic Left Party, and organizations such as CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador) and 200 other social organizations over the power of “gentleman's money.”

In Ecuador's main cities, Quito and Guayaquil, people flocked to the streets to celebrate Correa's victory. In statements to the press, Correa emphasized that this had been an election between two very different political proposals.

During the campaign, the mass media, especially the television stations 2, 10, and CN3, belonging to Grupo Isaías, and channel one and other radio stations, aligned themselves strictly with Noboa. Not only did they dedicate ample space to transmit the multimillionaire's broadcasts, but they also arranged scripted interviews with him on their news shows, where the journalists avoided asking Noboa “uncomfortable” questions, for instance regarding the tax returns of his 114 businesses (many of them are being sued by the state for evasion), the use of child labor in his banana production, or the violation of the worker's rights of his employees.2

The millionaire bombarded the citizenry with publicity; gave out money, wheelchairs, food, medicine, and loans; and offered to build 300,000 homes annually. Many were confused by this seeming largesse, but not so many as to assure a Noboa presidency.

On the other hand, from below a citizen's movement was growing in favor of dignity and rejection of vote-buying. The Correa candidacy led to unified initiatives from the left, bringing together social organizations and NGOs that rejected the plutocratic threat and supported Correa.

There was also an explosion of alternative forms of communication, such as electronic networks, graffiti, songs, videos, flyers, people's radio, etc., that permitted the people to be informed and learn what the mass media hid or distorted. The cities were filled with clever graffiti that combined humor and irony, and artists composed creative songs to denounce the efforts to convert the country into a “banana plantation.” Citizen action also manifested itself through the presence of thousands of voters in the polling places, keeping vigil to see that the result was respected in response to accusations that irregular acts were being prepared to manipulate the electoral process.

Noboa's dirty campaign didn't pay off against Correa, whom he not only called a Communist, but also the Devil, and an instrument of Hugo Chávez and the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

Rafael Correa knew how to synthesize the people's demands to overcome his disadvantage in the first round of the elections, where he came in second place with only 22.84% of the votes. Correa capably used the media and especially the radio, he carried out a door-to-door campaign, and made personal appearances at many forums and marches.

Meanwhile his opponent, believing himself the victor, refused to debate the present proposals and attended very few interviews, preferring paid advertisement. In the second phase of the campaign, Correa shifted focus. He placed less emphasis on political reform and the Constitutional Assembly, which was his main platform in the first round, and concentrated on the social aspects related to fighting poverty, and increasing access to housing, employment, and loans. He also made promises to satisfy the demands of the states.

Correa, 43 years old, is of modest origins. He was born to a lower-middle-class Guayaquil family, went to Catholic school and spent a year in an indigenous community in the state of Cotopaxi. He graduated in Economics from the Catholic University of Guayaquil, and did graduate studies at the University of Lovaina in Belgium and the University of Illinois in the United States. He was Dean of the EconomicsSchool at the private San FranciscoUniversity in Quito and an economic analyst known for his anti-neoliberal and nationalist points of view. After the popular revolts in April of 2005 that threw out Lucio Gutiérrez's government, he was appointed by President Alfredo Palacio as Finance Minister. He only lasted three months there, but during that time he maintained a policy of questioning the World Bank and IMF and advocating a priority on social spending.

The platform that Correa has announced is made up of five programmatic areas: an ethical revolution; a sustainable and democratic socio-economic revolution; a political revolution; a dignified and sovereign country; and Latin American integration. In several press conferences he has made these proposals explicit. He has said that his second decree will be to convoke a popular referendum for the installation of a Constitutional Assembly to draft a new Constitution, replacing the one approved in 1997. This will lead to a confrontation with the congress, which will be controlled by the PRIAN, Noboa's party, and the Patriotic Society Party, led by ex-president Lucio Gutiérrez.

The Alianza País movement that supports Correa does not have any congressional representatives since it did not present candidates in the first electoral round.

In international politics, the Correa government is in tune with the progressive governments in Latin America of Chávez, Evo Morales, Lula, and Tabaré Vásquez. He has stated that he will maintain relations with the United States in a framework of mutual respect. However, he has reiterated that he will not sign a Free Trade Agreement with the United States because it is detrimental, especially to small producers. He has expressed that he will not renew the agreement regarding the Manta military base, which was signed between the U.S. and Ecuadorian governments in 1999 and expires in 2009.

Relative to the Colombian armed conflict, he has expressed that he will not involve Ecuador and that his government will not declare the FARC to be a terrorist group, since neither the United Nations nor any Latin American government has done so, except for Colombia and the United States. He emphasized, also, that he will engage in dialogue with Colombia and Brazil to seek measures that compensate Ecuador's commercial imbalance with these two countries.

In relation to economic and energy policy, Correa has said that he will revise the contracts with the transnational oil companies (of five barrels of oil extracted from Ecuadorian soil, four go to transnationals and one to the State), he will study the re-entrance of Ecuador to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), he will limit the payment of external debt in order to make social investments in education and health, he will pay what Ecuador owes to the IMF to “liberate” it from its impositions. At the same time, he has expressed that during the four years of his administration dollarization will continue.

In these most recent elections, a majority of Ecuadorians again asked for change, national sovereignty, political reform, the fight against poverty, and to diminish the tremendous social and economic inequalities. The voters said no to neoliberal policies and the oligarchy. The government of Correa will not have an easy route to make the proposed “citizens revolution” a reality, because the right will do many things to try to boycott this process. Social organization and mobilization will be vital to be able to keep his campaign promises.

Endnotes

1. At 5:46 on Monday the 27th, when the Supreme Electoral Tribunal had counted 63.44% of the votes, the Rafael Correa - Lenin Moreno ticket had 2,494,914 votes (63.31%) and Alvaro Noboa - Vicente Taiano 1,455,627 (36.69%).

2. See “Multimillonario a la compra de la Presidencia”, Eduardo Tamayo G.

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Translated for the IRC Americas Program by Katherine Kohlstedt, IRC.

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