After a long campaign filled with disinformation, which gathered media and financial monopolies, together with right-wing parties, the self-proclaimed ‘radical left’, casino owners, illicitly wealthy rich, bullfighting fans, and others, all part of the ‘No’ camp, who lost in the recent referendum[1], held on May 7 in Ecuador, cannot desist on their purpose, endorsing the ‘No’ against all odds. 

Thus, this diverse group has been very busy recently, trying to push the ‘No’ vote in the referendum by accessorizing it with adjectives -good, brave, fearless, etc .- in an attempt to create nuances in their positions; once the ‘Yes’ won, the coincidences in speeches, meetings and arguments are such, that adjectives are falling under their own weight. 

During the pre-referendum campaign, it was still surprising to see ‘left’ unionists mobilizing over ‘No’ to social security being obligatory under the law for all workers- Question 10 out of 10 questions consulted[2] -; it was disturbing to hear spokesmen of ‘social movements’ promoting the ‘No’ to punish illicit enrichment, arguing that this would involve the confiscation of private property; it was disconcerting to listen to renowned ‘left-wing’ intellectuals support the ‘No’ to reform the broken judicial system, arguing that ‘justice cannot be manipulated’ and further claiming that the regulation over the collusion of bank and media capitals is an attack on the ‘freedom of speech’. 

Of course, these arguments and others in the same spirit were originally positioned by the right, who made use of a handful of falsehoods to achieve this positioning. On a daily basis, it was easy to find anachronisms such as: children will no longer be able to play if the ‘Yes’ wins, for the law will start regulating the gambling business; that cooking oil would double its price; that thousands of jobs generated by the gambling and bullfight industry would be lost... But if these tactics of the right are no longer surprising, almost nobody could remain indifferent to collusion of this discourse with that of some ‘leftist groups’’.  

Now that the ‘Yes’ has won, these diverse groups coincided again, by revealing that the ‘No’ was directly aiming at suffocating the process of change that has been taking place during the past four years; that no matter the content, they claim, what is important is to prevent the Citizen Revolution of the government from becoming more powerful. This is the leitmotiv behind the siege of the National Electoral Council (Consejo Nacional Electoral-CNE), sabotage the vote count and prevent, at all costs, the legitimacy of the victory of the ‘Yes’. In Quito, for example, there is a new scandal emerging every day: on Monday, a bomb alert at the CNE; on Tuesday, a dispute over the location where the vote count takes place; on Wednesday, a claim for the count -- which is generally a technical issue with strict rules defined in advance- to be made -- in the presence of all political parties, and so forth. 

Meanwhile, in the media -- active and central part of the campaign for the ‘No’ vote, in defense of ‘free enterprise’ and a version of ‘free speech’ which goes against communication rights[3] – we can see opposition spokespersons of this diverse group parading, one after the other, who after losing in the referendum, demand that the leadership of the Citizen Revolution and their advocates ‘humbly’ accept their theses and read the results through their eyes, which includes an overestimation of the potential advantage of the ‘No’ in some provinces in the Amazon and the central highlands. 

It cannot go unnoticed that the partial advantage of the ‘No’ in those cases would be the result of, as the spokesman for the Coordination of Social Movements (Coordinadora de Movimientos Sociales), Rodrigo Collahuazo said, the “dirty campaign of the opposition, because while they were trying to convince indigenous peoples and peasants that if the ‘Yes’ won their cattle would be taken from them, and even their children, we, the social movements, made a debate of content” [4]. In other words, while some groups manipulated the electorate, social movements were aiming at political elucidation. 

For this reason, the front Social Movements for the ‘Yes’ and Good Living (Movimientos Sociales por el Sí y el Buen Vivir), which brings together major social organizations such as the aforementioned Coordination of Social Movements, the most important peasant organizations, feminist or women organizations such as Women for Life (Mujeres por la Vida), among others, has called for a social mobilization to demand speed in the work of the National Electoral Council and the urgent disclosure of the results. 

Mary Quishpe, leader of the organization Women for Life, contends that their support of the ‘Yes’ is consistent with their historic commitment to popular urban roots, and defense of women’s rights “[...] especially of domestic employees, who are the most affected by the deficiencies of social security and working conditions[5], as well as women working in flower plantations. Many of them have worked between 15 and 20 years and are not affiliated to social security and -- once they become older -- will have no pension or severance, as the fruit of their effort”, she adds. 

Also, Raul Ocaña, leader of the Chamber of Solidarity Economy (Cámara de Economía Solidaria), while calling for greater integration of the people in different instances of the Citizen Revolution, states that the current situation is one in which the people and social movements are called to move from “being beneficiaries to being players”, to build and continue to promote the deepening of the agrarian revolution, the social and fair economic system, and other necessities for the construction of Good Living. 

Finally the ‘Yes’ has positioned as the winner in all 10 questions; with 99.34% of votes counted, it is estimated that upon completion of the missing ballots, which correspond to the most densely populated provinces, this trend will be confirmed and, as the leader Collahuazo has previously affirmed, “The people have already spoken, and have done so with maturity, and this is an attitude that must be respected: by positioning the national project above all emerging secessionist initiatives, and undertaking the process of restructuring justice”[6] and other pending changes, with the people and from the people. 

[1] Convened by the government to obtain the people’s pronouncement over 10 questions related to institutional and ethical transformations, 5 related to the Constitution and 5 with the building of society on the concept of “Good Living”. 

[2] 1 and 2: revocation of preventive detention, 3: regulation of collusion between the private banking system and the media, 4 and 5: reorganization of the judiciary; 6: criminalization of illicit enrichment, 7: regulation of gambling, casinos and related business, 8: eradication of torture and killing of animals in public performances, 9: regulation of messages displaying violent, discrimination or sexually explicit content in the media, 10: criminalize the non-affiliation to the social security system of workers in relation of dependence.

[3] “Newspapers were not sparing of resources such as the use of adjectives, headlines, reinforcing negative ideas, cartoons, which, together with scant contrasting of sources and dissemination of negative editorials, clearly manifested their position in this race.” Remarks on the news on the consultation - referendum, in Deslindes: las fronteras de la prensa escrita, Boletin de Coyuntura, N4, IAEN, April 16-30, 2011, Ecuador 

[4] News program  Gente al Día, Ecuador TV, interview, May 12, 2011 

[5] The process of the Citizen Revolution increased the basic wage of domestic workers from $70 in 2007 to $240 in 2009, and $264 in 2011, projected with an inflation rate of 3.7%, productivity of 1.5% and equity of 4.8%. They must also receive bonuses (thirteenth and fourteenth salary), overtime pay if they work more than eight hours a day, reserve funds and 15 days of vacation per year and, after the fifth year, an additional day per year. http://www.elciudadano .gov.ec / index.php? option = com_content & view = article & id = 23693: Women-and-men-are-victims-of-the-exploitation-labor-the-query-propose-a-brake-& catid = 4: Social & Itemid = 45