At stake in this election:

• 137 seats in the National Congress (Congreso Nacional)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Rafael CORREA Delgado *
• Head of Government: President Rafael CORREA Delgado
• Assembly: Ecuador has a unicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional) with 137 seats.

* The President is elected by majority vote to serve a 4-year term. Presidential elections take place under a two-round majority run-off system. In order to win in the first round, a candidate must garner at least 40% of the vote and have a 10 point advantage over the closest rival.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by majority vote to serve a 4-year term.
• In the National Congress (Congreso Nacional), 15 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms, 116 members are elected by plurality vote in multi-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 6 members are elected by majority vote in multi-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.***

*** The six seats are reserved to representatives for Ecuadorians living abroad and are elected in three multi-member constituencies. The multi-member districts were redrawn in 2012 to allow more proportional representation across the country.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: January 21 Patriotic Society Party / Partido Sociedad Patriótico 21 de Enero (PSP)
  • Leader: Lucio Edwin GUTIÉRREZ Borbúa
  • Seats won in last election: 19
• Party: Social Christian Party / Partido Social Cristiano (PSC)
  • Leader: Pascual DEL CIOPPO
  • Seats won in last election: 4
• Party: Institutional Renewal Party of National Action / Partido Renovador Institucional Acción Nacional (PRIAN)
  • Leader: Álvaro Fernando NOBOA Pontón
  • Seats won in last election: 7
• Party: Advance Party / Partido Avanza
  • Leader: Ramon GONZÁLEZ
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Ecuadorian Roldosist Party / Partido Roldosista Ecuatoriano (PRE)
  • Leader: Abdalá BUCARAM Ortiz
  • Seats won in last election: 3
• Coalition: Multinational Union of the Left / Unidad Plurinacional de las Izquierdas******
  • Leader: Jorge ESCALA
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Coalition: Socialist Party - Broad Front / Partido Socialista - Frente Amplio (PS-FA)
  • Leader: Rafeal QUINTERO
  • Seats won in last election: 1
• Civic Movement: Creating Opportunities Movement / Movimiento CREO
  • Leader: César MONGE
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Civic Movement: Societal Movement for More United Action / Movimeinto Sociedad Unida Más Acción (SUMA)
  • Leader: Mauricio RODAS Espinel
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Rupture / Ruptura 25**********
  • Leader: María Paula ROMO
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Civic Movement: PAIS Alliance / Movimeiento Allianza PAIS – Patria Altiva i Soberana (AP)
  • Leader: Rafeal Vicente CORREA Delgado
  • Seats won in last election: 59

****** Political coalition of left-leaning Ecuadoran political parties, including the Democratic People’s Movement / Movimiento Popular Democrático, Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement – New Country / Movimiento de Unidad Plurinacional Pachakutik – Nuevo País, and the Ethics and Democracy Network / Red Ética y Democracia among others. Together these parties won 9 seats in the last election.
********** Contested the 2009 Parliamentary elections as part of the PAIS Alliance.

Last Legislative election:

• Prior to the 2013 elections there had been only 124 seats in the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional). The number of seats was increased with legislation in 2012 to redraw electoral boundaries.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 15,661,312 (2013)
• Registered Voters: 11,675,441 (February 2013)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 7,829,381 (2013)

·         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: 40 (following the 2009 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: 2,349,196 (est.)