The deadline for political organizations to carry out their internal democratic processes begins this Saturday. Nine parties and movements have already decided on the dates for their assemblies.

Starting on August 3rd, political organizations must carry out their internal democratic processes to choose the candidates they will present in the elections on February 9, 2025. With six months left until the first round of voting, parties and movements will need to make important decisions.

The deadline is August 17th. By that date, Ecuadorians will officially know the names of those running for the presidency and vice presidency and those vying for one of the 151 seats in the Assembly.

For these elections, 78 political organizations are eligible to nominate candidates: 17 are national, and 61 are provincial.

Political organizations have three options for selecting candidates, as provided in the Code of Democracy:

• Open primaries, in which all Ecuadorians can participate and vote for the pre-candidates selected by the organization.
• Closed primaries, in which all party members or affiliates can vote.
• Representative elections through internal bodies, as provided by internal regulations.

This is due, in large part, to the number of candidate selection processes that each political organization, especially national parties and movements, will have to carry out in just 15 days.

Major parties are ready

Most national parties and movements have already defined the dates for their internal democratic processes and have asked the National Electoral Council (CNE) for technical support. There are already nine requests, and other organizations will carry out the process in the coming days.

The first movement to designate its candidate will be the ADN movement, led by President Daniel Noboa. Their meeting will be held in person at a hotel in Quito on August 9th. Noboa is expected to be ratified as a presidential candidate, and his running mate will be designated, whose name has not yet been made public.

On August 10th, the Pachakutik movement, which is promoting the candidacy of Leonidas Iza, president of the Conaie, will hold its primaries at its headquarters. That same day, the national convention of Revolución Ciudadana will take place at the Voltaire Paladines Polo Coliseum in Guayaquil, where they will confirm whether Gustavo Jalkh is their presidential candidate.

Between August 11th and 17th, the Construye movement will carry out its candidate selection processes: its announced candidate is Henry Cucalón. On August 13th, Democracia Sí will do so, while Amigo will hold its primaries on the 15th, and Unidad Popular on the 16th. Sociedad Patriótica will conduct its process from August 13th to 15th: this party has also announced Andrea González as its candidate for the elections.

Although they have not yet requested support from the CNE, it is confirmed that the Social Christian Party will hold its assembly on August 15th, and SUMA on the 17th.

RETOS, the Socialist Party, the Democratic Centre, the Democratic Left, and the PID will decide their dates in the coming days.

Apart from this, the parties and movements will also hold provincial assemblies to nominate their candidates for provincial assembly members.

The Electoral Calendar

After defining candidates through internal democratic processes, parties and movements have one more step before registration: acceptance of the candidacy.

This step is defined in the Internal Democracy Regulations of Political Organizations, which, in Article 9, states that candidates must accept their nomination before a delegate of the CNE. The rule states that “the acceptance of the candidacy is a public, express, non-delegable, and highly personal act.”

This procedure has been carried out in previous elections at the CNE headquarters in Quito.

Once this process is complete, political organizations must register their candidates between September 13th and October 2, 2024.

Conditions for Applications

When selecting candidates, political organizations must comply with the rules established in the Code of Democracy regarding the participation of women and youth.

For these elections, the inclusion of women must reach 50%, so all presidential binomials must be made up of a man and a woman. In the case of the lists of assembly members, at least half of the lists presented by each organization must be headed by a woman.

Additionally, parties must ensure that at least 25% of the participants on the list of assembly members are young people under 24 years of age.