Congresswoman in Ecuador talks about Rafael Correa, Dirty Campaign, etc, etc.

Ecuador: Congresswoman Mae Montaño Criticizes the Legacy of Rafael Correa

PANAMPOST.COM – International observers, including the European Union, have criticized the Ecuadorian government for excessive use of state resources in its electoral campaigns. How did this affect the outcome of the election?

What the government did was not only abusive and illegal, but also lacking in all morals and ethics. It mobilized the whole state apparatus in favor of its campaign, which is prohibited by law; but they had an absolutely obsequious National Electoral Council, which conferred to the ruling party a great degree of impunity, and a judiciary system absolutely inclined against the opposition.

They used state media outlets as campaign propaganda machines, and they put together a dirty campaign without precedent in the democratic history of Ecuador. They inaugurated public works projects and invited their candidates; they put public employees to work, as if they were soldiers of the campaign. They mobilized the institutions of the state, seeking votes in exchange for gifts, and created an army of digital trolleys to amplify the dirty campaign by slandering the opposition candidates

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During his decade in power, Rafael Correa greatly expanded the state’s role in the economy, increased taxes, and increased Ecuador’s debt levels. How will this affect the Ecuadorian people in the years to come?

A prestigious economist from Ecuador, Vicente Albornoz, proposed a metaphor that seems pertinent to me: he said that the country is like a twin engine airplane (one being the state and the other private enterprise) that currently flies with only one: the state.

If the new government does not recover private enterprise through incentives and adequate competition, we will continue to inflate the budget to pay public employees and continue to expand the deficit that last year was more than 7 percent of GDP. Read Full Interview