…and the world’s most crushed-on head of state was looking mighty fine, even if his voice was a wee bit rough:
Oh, you want the story? All right, here it is…
The presidential candidate for the Alianza País party, Rafael Correa, said on Thursday that the great crowd gathered to witness the close of his campaign is “the response to all the media manipulation” that tried to minimize the impact of the Citizen Revolution.
During his final speech, Correa looked forward to the general elections next Sunday, saying that he had “never seen such enthusiasm, so much support and so much hope” regarding the electoral process.
“This is the best response to media manipulation. [They say] it’s been an apathetic campaign, that it’s been a campaign without interest, one that hasn’t presented any proposals. Apathetic for their candidates, without interest in their partidocracy, without proposals and without plans for their government,” Correa said.
Correa also expressed his confidence in the election results, and said that “We will win with no less than 65 percent of the votes.”
William Parra, the Telesur correspondent in Ecuador, reported that along the Avenida Michelena in Quito, there was a festive atmosphere, full of joy and a huge “green wave” of supporters.
The official news agency of Ecuador, ANDES, reported that at 3 p.m. on Thursday, despite the bright sun and the heat, there was already a great mass of supporters for Correa, who arrived at 7:45 p.m., following campaign stops in the coastal province of Los Ríos.
Correa stated that in Sunday’s elections, they would bury the “partidocracy” of the opposition, and said that “it is forbidden to forget their black-armband marches, those responsible for the bank closures, now [we’ll have] no more of those irresponsible populists, rock-throwers, demagogues, and those who buy votes.”
He also said that “the vote is not for a man, but for a political project called the Citizen Revolution, which is already legendary”, and saluted acting president Lenin Moreno, who had accompanied him that night to the campaign-closing ceremony.
“I ask the people not to look back, and on Sunday, vote for List 35,” said the candidate.
Telesur’s special correspondent in Quito, Paula Mónaco Felipe, reported that five of the eight candidates are closing their campaigns in Guayaquil, where 34 percent of eligible voters live. She added that the electoral process has been accompanied by more than 300 correspondents from various countries, all of whom have presented it in a good light.
Translation mine.
Guayaquil, for those wondering, is considered an opposition stronghold; it’s the only major city in Ecuador where right-wing parties still have any credibility. But even so, it represents only a third of eligible voters, and not all of them will be voting for the opposition. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Correa not only meets his prediction of 65% of the vote, but surpasses it.
Gonna be watching this vote closely on Sunday, kiddies. May even live-tweet it, if I can. Meanwhile, watch this space for the result.
After the election is over, Sr. Presidente needs to stop inviting Chinese and, worst of all, Canadian companies in to rape the headwaters of the Amazon with their damned open-pit mining. Just look at Panamá for how well these companies “protect” fragile ecosystems.
Sorry, QB, I know you like him and his policies and for the most part, so do I. But on this, he is wrong, wrong, wrong. If he is going to develop these resources, and he is going to need to, there are far, far better more ecologically sound ways of going about it.
Yeah, that’s the one thing about him that really sticks in my craw. If he’s serious about giving rights to Mother Earth and the indigenous people, he needs to extend protection to the entire zone where they live, and not just a portion of it. Otherwise, he’s gonna end up like Harpo: forced to steal elections for utter lack of credibility AND the popular vote.