Ignoring Repression and Dirty Tricks in Coverage of Ecuador's Election
FEBRUARY 16, 2021
JOE EMERSBERGER
Ecuadorians went to the polls on February 7 to elect a new president, vice president and National Assembly. A week before the election, a widely reposted Reuters article (1/29/21) by Alexandra Valencia and Venezuela-based reporter Brian Ellsworth explained that “nostalgia for better times under former leftist president Rafael Correa has pushed one of his proteges into the lead.” The protégé in question is Andrés Arauz, a 36-year-old economist who was part of the Correa government’s economic team, including a stint as head of its central bank, during the ten years that it was in office (2007–17).
Lies of omission characterize Reuters coverage of Latin American politics (FAIR.org, 12/17/19, 6/14/19). This article was no exception. There was no mention in the article that Arauz was almost not allowed on the ballot at all.
As I explained in August (FAIR.org, 8/17/20), over the past four years, Correa’s allies have not been allowed to register as a new political party, and have had to resort to running under the banner of already-existing parties. The election results have confirmed once again (as did regional elections in 2019) that Correa’s political allies are the largest political force in the country. How could the CNE get away with denying them their own party? Why would Reuters fail to mention, never mind explore, that very significant fact?
By August, the CNE had effectively banned one of the parties allied with Correaists, a maneuver that almost succeeded in disqualifying Arauz—the candidate who just won the first round of the election by 13 percentage points over his closest rival. On October 30, with three votes in favor and two abstentions, the National Electoral Council (CNE) finally allowed Arauz’s candidacy. Still, a week before the election, one CNE member made a last-ditch attempt to have Arauz disqualified.
More:
https://fair.org/home/ignoring-repression-and-dirty-tricks-in-coverage-of-ecuadors-election/
