The international community knows that the Arauz-Rabascall ticket represents one of the largest political forces in Ecuador and is a key contender for victory in the February 2021 elections.
Barring the main opposition from contesting elections would be a violation of Ecuadorian law, a violation of Ecuadorian fundamental rights, and a violation of international democratic standards.
Such a drastic move away from democracy and toward authoritarianism would have enormous consequences for the government of Ecuador, as for the members of the CNE that are responsible for it.
Article 104 of Ecuador’s electoral law and article 14 of the Rules for the Registration of Candidates state clearly that the legal procedure in the case of a candidate being disqualified is not to eliminate the whole ticket, but to ask the party to replace the candidate who has been disqualified by another candidate.
We write to you now to make you aware that a violation of these written rules would have grave consequences for the people of Ecuador, and for the fate of democracy around the world.
We, members of the Progressive International, call on the National Electoral Council (CNE) to respect the right of the people to hold for free and fair elections.
Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta
Minister of Women, Gender, and Diversity, Argentina
Celso Amorim
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Brazil
Renata Ávila
International human rights lawyer
Alicia Castro
Ex-ambassador de Argentina and union activist
Noam Chomsky
Professor laureate of linguistics, University of Arizona
Srećko Horvat
Co-Founder, DiEM25
John McDonnell
Member of Parilament for Hayes and Harlington
Vijay Prashad
Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, India
Yanis Varoufakis
Economist and Secretary-General of MeRA25, Greece
Photo: Xavier
