Izquierda Democrática

Logo of the ID

The Izquierda Democrática (Spanish for Democratic Left ; ID ) is a political party in Ecuador . It is oriented towards social democracy and is a member of the Socialist International . Its chairman has been Andrés Páez since January 2007. The headquarters of the party is in the capital Quito , at the address Polonia N30-83 y Eloy Alfaro .

history

The Izquierda Democrática was officially registered in the Ecuadorian party register on May 5, 1978 after the end of the military dictatorship under Guillermo Rodríguez Lara and Alfredo Poveda Burbano . Even before the military dictatorship, however , a political group of the same name was founded in 1970 on the initiative of Rodrigo Borja , Manuel Córdova and Luis Costales, among others in Quito , which achieved considerable success in regional elections in the Pichincha province , but did not win the mayoral elections in Quito could. The first Izquierda Democrática was institutionally and personally forerunner of the party that was finally founded at the end of the 1970s. It came about because Rodrigo Borja, university professor and member of the Liberal Party since 1966, turned away from it in 1967 in view of an informal coalition of his party with the populist President Velasco Ibarra and sought to found a new, non-Marxist party of the left.

In 1976 the first official party congress of the Izquierda Democrática took place, which many consider to be the actual founding of the party. This adopted the statutes, an electoral program for the presidential elections in 1978 and named Borja as a presidential candidate. Gonzalo Córdova became the first chairman. In the presidential election 1978/79 Borja could not qualify for the runoff in the first ballot.

The ID was not a party to any social movement and had its roots in a group of educated members of the upper middle class in Quito. Its structure was quite reduced at the beginning. It was not until 1984 that the party spread throughout Ecuador.

In the same year Borja finished in the presidential election in the runoff election just second behind León Febres Cordero ( PSC ), although he had been considered a favorite shortly before.

In 1988 Borja won the presidential elections and held office until 1992. Raúl Baca was not a candidate for the runoff election in 1992. A discussion about the program, structure and ideological orientation of the party began during Borja's presidency. The leader Borja was increasingly pushed into the background by several internal party groups. In the 1996 presidential elections, ID did not nominate its own candidate, but instead supported the television presenter Freddy Ehlers , who also ran as an independent candidate for the indigenous movement Pachakutik . In 1998 and 2002, after lengthy discussions, Borja ran again and did not make it into the runoff election.

In the 2006 presidential election , ID entered into an alliance with Red Ética y Democracia (RED), a group founded by León Roldós in 2005 . Roldós was a joint presidential candidate; his candidate for the office of vice-president was Ramiro González of the ID, the previous prefect of the Pichincha province. However, the team took fourth place with 14.8 percent of the votes in the first ballot and did not make it into the runoff election.

Today the ID is considered to be the most modern organized and led party in Ecuador. In terms of its organization among the Ecuadorian parties, it most closely resembles the Central European model of the People's Party .

Although the party in Borja had a dominant personality for a long time, the structure of the party was less clienteleistic than other parties in Ecuador and less de facto dependent on its party leader. Borja, who taught as a constitutional law professor, emphasized the need for rational decision-making via bodies and commissions. However, due to the frequently changing coalitions in the National Congress and the associated back-room negotiations, the Ecuadorian parties generally enjoy a rather poor reputation. In this context, ID is also often seen as part of the system of established parties and assessed accordingly.

This was evident in the 2007-08 Constituent Assembly elections , in which the party won only three of the 130 seats, while President Rafael Correa's newly formed party , Movimiento PAÍS , won 80 seats.

program

The party sees as its "mission" to "build a just, humanistic and solidary society through democratic socialism, with a project for the country that will achieve socio-economic development for the Ecuadorians."

It strives for social justice and, in this sense, a “fairer” society in Ecuador and, above all, greater political, social and economic participation for the disadvantaged lower classes. This approach of “social change” makes it a social party in its self-image, which, however, relies on democratic institutions and the rule of law for this change. It attaches importance to presenting itself as an institution-oriented, decidedly non- populist party.

In its program, the party particularly advocates closer politics to the citizen in order to strengthen democracy and enable the people to achieve their goals. This means that the party also wants to take up political projects from the population, especially the party's target groups. It strives for a democratic organization of the party and thus a policy that differs structurally and ideologically from that of the country's classic economic and social elites.

In terms of economic policy, she advocates neither a free market economy nor a planned economy , but a third way. From a historical perspective, in the party's discourses and programs, the importance of the state as an economic engine decreases and that of the market increases. A neoliberal tendency in the ID is therefore identified by left groups today . She advocates full employment, the modernization of the state and social security systems that live up to her name.

Overall, it is to be seen as a center-left party and defines itself as such.

Chair since 1978

All chairpersons of the party since the entry in the party register are given

• 1978–1980: Gonzalo Córdova
• 1980-1982: Raúl Baca
• 1982–1983: Rodrigo Borja
• 1983–1987: Xavier Ledesma (1987 interim Alcides Mosquera)
• 1987-1989: Efren Cocíos
• 1989–1992: Nicolás Issa
• 1992-1993: Andrés Vallejo
• 1993-1996: Jorge Gallardo
• 1996–1997: Luis Emilio Jarrín (provisional after Gallardo left the party)
• 1997-2004: Rodrigo Borja
• 2004–2007: Guillermo Landázuri
• 2007–2009: Andrés Páez
• Since 2009: Dalton Bacigalupo

Election results

The ID's election results improved continuously between 1978 and 1988. After the Borja presidency, voter approval fell noticeably until the 1996 presidential and parliamentary elections. The number of voters has increased again since 1998, but fell significantly in the 2006 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Presidential candidate 1978-2006

• 1978/79: Rodrigo Borja: fourth place with 12.0% of the votes in the first ballot.
• 1984: Rodrigo Borja: defeated León Febres Cordero (PSC and others) with 48.5% of the vote in the second ballot . The ID joined the electoral alliance with the Pueblo, Cambio y Democracia party founded by the late President Roldós .
• 1988: Rodrigo Borja: successful with 54% of the votes in the second ballot against Abdalá Bucaram (PRE).
• 1992: Raúl Baca: eliminated with 8.5% of the votes in the first ballot.
• 1996: no own candidacy; Support for the candidacy of the independent Freddy Ehlers , nominated by Pachakutik , who received 20.6% of the votes in the first ballot and took third place behind Abdalá Bucaram (PRE) and Jaime Nebot (PSC).
• 1998: Rodrigo Borja: with 16.1% of the votes in the first ballot, third place behind Jamil Mahuad (DP) and Álvaro Noboa (PRE), not in the second ballot.
• 2002: Rodrigo Borja: with 14.0% of the votes in the first ballot, fourth place behind Lucio Gutiérrez (PSP), Álvaro Noboa ( PRIAN ) and León Roldós (MCNP, independent), not in the second ballot.
• 2006: León Roldos, in electoral alliance with his party Red Ética y Democracia : with 14.8% of the votes in the first ballot, fourth place behind Álvaro Noboa (PRIAN), Rafael Correa (PAÍS / PS-FA) and Gilmar Gutiérrez (PSP) not in the second ballot.

Last election results (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009)

Presidential elections (2002, 2006)

In the 2002 presidential elections, ID's candidate Rodrigo Borja received 14.0 percent of the vote and finished fourth behind Lucio Gutiérrez (PSP), Álvaro Noboa (PRIAN) and León Roldós (Movimiento Ciudadano Nuevo País (independent)). In the 2006 presidential elections, León Roldós, as a joint candidate of his new political movement Red Ética y Democracia (RED) and the ID, like Borja four years earlier, took fourth place in the first ballot behind Álvaro Noboa, who later became President Rafael Correa ( Movimiento PAÍS / PS -FA ) and Gilmar Gutiérrez , brother of the 2002 victorious Lucio (PSP).

Parliamentary elections (2002, 2006, 2009) and elections to the Constituent Assembly (2007)

In elections to the National Congress in 2002, the party received a total of 12.0 percent of the vote. The ID received 13 plus three seats (out of 100) won in electoral alliances with other parties. It was the third strongest party behind PSC and PRE . Before the elections in October 2006, the party was the second largest parliamentary group with 15 members after leaving and moving up from the National Congress . With Wilfrido Lucero , she will also be the President of the Congress until the end of the legislative period on January 5, 2007.

In most provinces, the ID ran in the parliamentary elections on October 15, 2006 together with RED. Both parties won 10 seats on joint lists, plus one in each of the provinces in which they competed separately. Their combined share of the vote at national level was around 12.7%. Both in terms of seats and in terms of the proportion of votes, the party lost significantly compared to the previous election. It only became the strongest party in one province, its traditional stronghold, Pichincha province, where ID / RED received 25.2% of the vote. In the largest province of the country, the coastal province of Guayas, where ID is traditionally only weakly represented, the parties competed separately and ID received 1.95% of the vote (RED 6.25%). After the election, both parties agreed not to form a joint group in the National Congress, so that ID had seven MPs at the beginning of the 2007-2011 legislative period and RED five.

The legislative period was shortened significantly, however, as a Constituent Assembly was elected in September 2007 . ID only provided three of its 130 MPs, one each for Carchi Province, Chimborazo Province and Pichincha Province, the latter two being elected through electoral alliances with MPD and other parties. ID was only the seventh largest group in the congregation.

In the 2009 elections to the National Assembly , the ID only won two members.

Regional and local elections (2004)

After the regional and local elections in 2004, the ID provided the prefects of the provinces of Pichincha , Azuay , Carchi and Loja . The prefect of Tungurahua Province was also elected through an electoral alliance in which ID was involved. All the provinces mentioned are in the Andean highlands, where the party received much better election results than in the coastal region dominated by PSC, PRE and PRIAN. The mayors of most of the provincial capitals of the Andean highlands belong to the ID ( Quito , Guaranda , Ibarra , Tulcán , Cuenca ) or were elected for electoral alliances in which the party was involved ( Loja , Ambato ). In the 2004 elections in 12 of the 219 cantons of the country ID alone elected candidates for the mayor's office, as well as candidates from electoral alliances with ID participation in 16 other cantons.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ according to ID, Misión, Visión y Objetivos , archived copy ( memento of the original from January 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed October 14, 2006). The link is no longer available after the website has been redesigned. The basic values ​​of the party can now be found in an archived copy ( memento of the original from June 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed July 9, 2007).  
2. ↑ The list follows until 2000 Flavia Freidenberg and Manuel Alcántara Sáez: Los dueños del poder. Los partidos políticos en Ecuador (1978-2000) , Quito: FLACSO, 2001, ISBN 9978670661 , p. 156f. (Chart XIV).
3. ↑ The MPs were elected at the provincial level. Therefore, the percentage of the total number of votes at national level has no direct influence on the allocation of parliamentary seats. Number taken from Pachano (2005), p. 24.
4. ↑ Data for the provinces according to the Supreme Electoral Court ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Total voting share calculated from the sum of the consolidated list voting equivalents ( votación consolidada ) across all provinces. Where ID and RED competed separately, the votes of both parties were added. The proportion of votes at national level does not play a role in the allocation of mandates; they are distributed at the provincial level. 
5. ↑ The official election result can be viewed here ( Memento from March 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) on the homepage of the Supreme Electoral Court.
6. ↑ Determined after the election results report of the Supreme Electoral Court to the National Congress: Informe del Tribunal Supremo Electoral al Congreso Nacional 2004, Quito 2005, Chapter 9: Resultados Electorales, online at Archivlink ( Memento of the original of May 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was used automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. or archive link ( memento of the original from April 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed October 14, 2006; See also the self-presentation of the holders of public offices by ID under Archived Copy ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. that are not complete and z. Partly out of date (accessed October 14, 2006).   

literature

• Flavia Freidenberg and Manuel Alcántara Sáez: Los dueños del poder. Los partidos políticos en Ecuador (1978-2000) , Quito: FLACSO, 2001, ISBN 9978-67-066-1 , pp. 129-169 ("Izquierda Democrática").
• Simón Pachano: “El territorio de los partidos. Ecuador, 1979-2002 “, in: La Gobernabilidad en América Latina: Balance reciente y tendencias a futuro. Lot 43 aportes más representativos de las unidades académicas de la FLACSO en el 2004 , Quito: FLACSO, 2005 (CD-ROM), online at http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/ar/libros/ecuador/flacso/pachano .pdf .

Web links

• Official Homepage (Spanish)