Ecuador election fraud claims-leftist &billionaire

[chebol]

http://ecuador-rising.blogspot.com
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinves...E-4-PICTURE.XML (http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-10-16T235730Z_01_N16350979_RTRIDST_0_ECUADOR-ELECTION-UPDATE-4-PICTURE.XML)
http://www.ecanadanow.com/world/2006/10/16...brazilian-firm/ (http://www.ecanadanow.com/world/2006/10/16/ecuador-cancels-quick-vote-count-deal-with-brazilian-firm/)
http://www.euro2day.gr/articlesfna/22445612/

[izquierda80]

I personally believe that the possibility of fraud is high in this case, given the closeness of the election and the fact that businessman Noboa ran basically as a rightwing populist, literally buying the votes of many.

Still, I lack the elements to confirm it and hope that Correa and his supporters are able to better handle the situation, for the best interests of Ecuador and those of the region at large, which are not those of Noboa and the U.S.

[chebol]

According to the first official numbers, Correa wins (http://ecuador-rising.blogspot.com/2006/10/according-to-first-official-numbers.html)

[Tekun]

Considering that Noboa turned off many with his extravagance and his entire masquerade of buying votes, I was shocked to hear that Correa had lost, and that it wasn't as close
27-22%

I really doubt that Correa's gonna win the second round
Experts predicted that he would win, and in fact that he would get more than 40%, and automatically win the presidency
But this came as a complete shock, and to many, a fraud
I doubt that the election commission will uncover a fraud, considering the other guy running is a billionaire
Noboa's gonna play the Chavez card, he's gonna do what Garcia did to Umala in Peru

Damn, more the reason to give up on bourgeois elections

[chebol]

Don't be so sure about that - it's nowhere near as bad as that.

Actually, Correa is, on recount ahead again. Also, Noboa has come second twice before, and slumps in the second round. Pachakutik and CONAIE are condemning the fraud, and in the context of the referendum campaign that Correa is runnign regardless of the elections, this is only the beginning of the fight, not the end.

I actually very much doubt that Noboa will win, outside of Correa really fucking up between now and November, and, in fact, the more he draws in the anger of the social movements with the corruption of the bourgeois electoral system, the more likely he is either to win the second round, or win the leadersjip of th country regardless of elections.

The "polls" showing Correa with 40% in the lead-up to the election were entirely informal. No legal polling is allowed in the lead-in to elections, so a lot of it was likely politicised, or potentially designed to inflate the sense of support for Correa in order to make it appear that he suffered a "defeat" in this round.

In reality, to have come from next to nowhere, to be neck and neck going into the second round with his platform (including his rhetoric - no matter how real - of building socialism) is a massive victory. The hope is that the campaign to set-up a constituent assembly continues apace, preferably but not exclusively with Correa as president, enabling the unions and social movements to take greater control over the country and drive out the rat's nest that is the local oligarchy.

Also, the likelihood that the elections were in fact massively rigged is not unreasonable. Leon Febres Cordero of the PSC has fingers in every pie in the country.

Something to keep an eye on, especially over the next few days.

[chebol]

According to the latest count, the figures from the first count are more or less "correct", that they reflect what the votes say.

Correa is claiming that the null-vote campaign has been used (by way of filling in blank ballots) to commit fraud, but is pushing for a massive victory in the second round regardless.

And now..... Ecuador's Economy minister quits! (http://ecuador-rising.blogspot.com/2006/10/ecuadors-economy-minister-quits_18.html)