Ecuador

A constitutional state of rights and social justice, democratic, sovereign, independent, unitary, intercultural, plurinational, and secular. It is organized as a republic and governed in a decentralized manner (Art. 1, Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador).

The state is territorially organized into 24 provinces, 221 cantons, and 1,499 parishes, which constitute the different levels of territorial organization of the republic. Special regimes may be established for environmental conservation, ethnic-cultural reasons, or population needs.

Legislative power is exercised by the National Assembly. It is a unicameral parliament composed of 137 members distributed among 15 permanent commissions. The National Assembly elects a President and two Vice Presidents from among its members for a two-year term, with the possibility of reelection.

The canton is the basic territorial unit of Ecuador’s organization. Each canton has a cantonal council composed of the mayor and councilors elected by popular vote, who choose a vice mayor among themselves. The mayor is the highest administrative authority and presides over the council with a casting vote. The council represents proportionally the urban and rural population of the canton as established by law (Art. 253, Constitution of Ecuador). Likewise, each autonomous metropolitan district has a council elected by popular vote. The metropolitan mayor is its highest administrative authority and presides over the council with a casting vote (Art. 254, Constitution of Ecuador).

The President of the Republic serves a four-year term and may be reelected once. Members of the National Assembly, mayors, and councilors are elected for four-year terms.

For President and Vice President, the ticket is elected by absolute majority of valid votes cast or if the first-place ticket obtains at least 40% of valid votes and a margin of over 10 percentage points over the second-place ticket. Mayors are elected by relative majority. For multi-member elections (councilors and assembly members), proportional representation using the Webster method is applied.

Closed and blocked lists.

The President, Vice President, and Andean Parliament members are elected in a single national constituency. The National Assembly includes 15 members elected at the national level; 2 members per province (plus one additional member per 200,000 inhabitants or fraction thereof); 6 members from special overseas constituencies; and 2 members per each region. Mayors of metropolitan districts and cantonal municipalities are elected in their respective territorial constituencies, as are members of municipal councils (multi-member constituencies), whose number depends on population criteria established by law.

Yes. The Organic Electoral Law (Democracy Code) of 2009, last amended in 2020, establishes in Article 99 that political organizations must register candidate lists for multi-member and single-member elections under parity and generational inclusion criteria. Multi-member lists must alternate gender (woman–man or man–woman) until completing all principal and substitute candidacies.

Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador and Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy, and Decentralization (COOTAD).

The Electoral Function consists of the National Electoral Council and the Electoral Contentious Tribunal. Both are headquartered in Quito, with national jurisdiction, administrative, financial, and organizational autonomy, their own legal personality, and are funded through the General State Budget. They operate under principles of autonomy, independence, publicity, transparency, equity, interculturality, gender parity, speed, probity, certainty, efficiency, quality, coordination, planning, evaluation, and service to the community. The National Electoral Council is represented by its President (Art. 18, Organic Electoral Law, Democracy Code).