New Webinar - Elections in Ecuador

Voters in Ecuador will go to the polls in an unprecedented snap election on 20 August. More than 13 million voters are expected to elect a new president, and members of the 137-seat National Assembly. To win in the first round, a presidential candidate needs 50% of the valid votes, or 40% with a 10-point lead over second-place. Otherwise, a runoff election will be scheduled for 15 October.

Citing political crisis and inability to govern, on 18 May incumbent President Guillermo Lasso dissolved Ecuador’s National Assembly, cutting his term short to avoid impeachment proceedings against him. Lasso invoked a constitutional mechanism introduced in 2008, the so-called “two-way death” (muerte cruzada), which allows the president to call for early elections under specific circumstances, such as the legislature’s actions blocking the functioning of government.

Elected officials will only hold office until May 2025, when general elections remain scheduled to take place. Join Canning House for this webinar, in which we will discuss this election’s outcomes and significance for the future of Ecuador.Canning House joins its colleagues across the UK and Latin America in wholeheartedly and entirely condemning the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, presidential candidate in these elections. May he rest in peace.