Voters hand Noboa a stunning referendum defeat

Ecuadorian voters rejected all four of President Daniel Noboa’s referendum questions in Sunday’s election. As of midnight, the “no” vote was winning by broad margins on three questions to amend the current constitution and on a fourth question that would convene a constituent assembly to write a new constitution.

A spokesman for the National Electoral Council announces vote totals Sunday night in Quito.

With 95% of votes counted, 60.5% of voters rejected foreign military bases in Ecuador; 58% rejected eliminating public campaign funding; 53.5% rejected reducing the size of the National Assembly; and 61.5% rejected rewriting the constitution.

According to several analysts, the rejection of the four questions came as a shock. “Two weeks ago, the polls showed all the questions winning by a comfortable margin, and the president was confident of victory,” said Jorge Parra, a history professor at San Francisco University in Quito.

Parra believed there was movement toward “no” on the question to rewrite the constitution but said it appeared to still have enough support to win. “Whatever the reasons, the voters delivered a stern reminder to the president tonight that they will not rubber stamp proposals they believe reduce their rights as citizens. I believe it was a vote against the autocratic tendencies that the government has shown in recent months.”

Political consultant Sthepanie Macías said Noboa was “taught a lesson in humility” but says his popularity is still high by recent standards and that he can learn from the defeat. “His approval number have dropped slightly but he still registers in the mid-40s, so I believe he can recover from this as long as acknowledges the will of the people and makes adjustments accordingly.”

Macías added that Noboa’s failure to reduce the country’s crime rate in recent months is one of the reasons for his referendum defeat.

At 9 p.m., Noboa accepted the results of the referendum. “These are the results. We consulted Ecuadorians and they have spoken very clearly. We kept our promise to ask them directly and now we must respect their decision,” Noboa said.