The presidential elections in Ecuador are approaching and with that political instability grows just three days before electing the next president. According to the Ecuadorian media Ecuavisa, the candidacy of Christian Zurita, the candidate who ran as Fernando Villavicencio’s replacement after his assassination, was finally approved by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Wednesday night. The approval is the first victory for Zurita, whose candidacy had been appealed to the CNE for technical reasons by the Revolución Ciudadana (RC) party from Correista.
The CNE revealed that Zurita was accused by Revolución Ciudadana of signing an affiliation document with another party. In response to the accusations, Zurita stated that “it is a false challenge, I am not attached to any political movement.” Hours later, the agency verified with graphologists that the signature did not correspond to Zurita’s and approved his candidacy.
According to the sources, Revolución Ciudadana accused Zurita of being affiliated with another political organization, of not giving up that supposed affiliation “at least 90 days in advance” and of not having “prior authorization” from his current party. . According to Ecuadorian media, the objection from Luisa González’s party was presented on Tuesday night.
The CNE unanimously rejected the accusations of the Citizen Revolution and affirmed that Zurita followed all the legal parameters to enter as a candidate. That said, the electoral body announced that the votes that are destined for the Villavicencio ballot will be transferred to Zurita and his vice president Andrea González. Zurita and his Construye party will only have one day to campaign, since the “period of silence” in the country will begin at 00:00 on Friday.
According to Ecuadorian sources, the challenge caused a stir in the country, even more so if it came from the correistas, who have been accused of corruption during their years governing Ecuador. However, Zurita plans to continue with the government program proposed by Villavicencio before he passes away. For now, the Revolución Ciudadana party has not offered statements before Zurita’s approval.
