At stake in this election:

• 121 seats in the National Congress (Congreso Nacional)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Fabian ALARCON Rivera
• Head of Government: President Fabian ALARCON Rivera
• Assembly: Ecuador has a unicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional) with 121 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote to serve a 4-year term.
• In the National Congress (Congreso Nacional) 121 members are elected through a party-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

*** For this election, 101 members were elected by provincial vote and 20 members were elected by national vote. The number of seats elected by provincial vote was raised from 70 to 101 since the May 1996 election. The number of seats elected by national vote was raised from 12 to 20. The next election, scheduled for 2002, will be to elect provincial deputies only. National deputeis will no longer be elected. Currently, all members in the National Congress are elected for a four and one-half year term.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Social Christian Party (PSC)
  • Leader: Jaime NEBOT Saadi
  • Seats won in last election: 27
• Party: Roldosista Party of Ecuador (PRE)
  • Leader: Abdala BUCARAM Ortiz
  • Seats won in last election: 21
• Party: Popular Democracy (DP)
  • Leader: Jamil MAHUAD
  • Seats won in last election: 12
• Party: Pachakutik-New Country Coalition (P-NP)
  • Leader: Freddy EHLERS
  • Seats won in last election: 7

Last Legislative election:

• Legislative elections were last held on May 19, 1996.
  82 seats were decided on in the last election.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 12,163,887 (1998)
• Registered Voters: 7,072,496 ( 1998 )

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 6,062,350 (1998)

·         Is Ecuador a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Ecuador ratified CEDAW: Yes (9 November 1981)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 21 (following the 1998 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 88 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Ecuador a signatory to CRPD: Yes 30 March 2007

·         Has Ecuador ratified CRPD: 3 April 2008

·         Population with a disability: 1,824,583 (est.)