A block formed by four leftist forces in Ecuador, grouped in the alliance Alianza Ciudadana, has publicly accused that mechanisms are being used to remove candidates who oppose the president, Daniel Noboa, from the electoral contest.
In an appearance before the media, representatives of different formations warned of a serious democratic setback in the country. They particularly pointed out the harassment against leftist candidates through judicial resources that seek to prevent their participation, as in the case of the mayor of Quito, Pabel Muñoz, who intends to repeat his term in the local elections scheduled for November 2026.
While it is being defined which candidacies will be able to go to the polls, and in a context marked by threats of disqualification and pressures from fiscal bodies, these organizations have denounced a "strategy of traps" that they attribute to Noboa's Executive, who "if he plays fair, loses the elections." "That is why he prohibits political organizations and candidates with winning conditions," stated Natasha Rojas, leader of Unidad Democrática, according to the television channel Ecuavisa.
On the part of the Socialist Party, its highest official, Gustavo Vallejo, recalled that in the case of Muñoz a sanction has already been issued by the Electoral Contentious Tribunal (TCE). "We must not forget that they already promoted a recall process that failed," he pointed out regarding the judicial trajectory faced by the mayor of the Ecuadorian capital.
Gabriela Rivadeneira, representative of Revolución Ciudadana, the party of former president Rafael Correa, emphasized that those who suffer the most consequences are the citizens, seeing how the alternatives on the ballots are reduced. "The Ecuadorian people will not be able to choose freely," Rivadeneira has stated, who has been accusing Noboa of "persecuting, prohibiting, threatening, and extorting."
In parallel, the focus remains on the situation of the 'correísta' former presidential candidate Luisa González, who faced Noboa in the last presidential elections and has not managed to register her candidacy in the province of Manabí, in addition to having unsuccessfully attempted to present herself as a candidate for the indigenous party Pachakutik.