On September 8, the national court of Ecuador decided to uphold a ruling in the “Bribes Case” against former president Rafael Correa — effectively barring him from standing for the vice presidency in February’s election. Andrés Arauz, an economist and former minister in his government, will continue to lead the presidential ticket for “the Union for Hope” (Unión Por La Esperanza, UNES) coalition, while the renowned journalist Carlos Rabascall has been selected to replace Correa as its vice presidential candidate.

This was not the only such attack on the “Citizens’ Revolution” spearheaded by Correa. On September 16, the Fuerza Compromiso Social (FCS) party, used as the main electoral platform by Correa and his allies since early 2019, was definitively deregistered by the country’s National Electoral Council (CNE), along with two smaller parties.

This leaves the Democratic Center (CD) as the only registered party to be sponsoring the candidates of the Citizens’ Revolution. And no sooner did Arauz and Rabascall launch the new ticket, a fresh threat to block their candidacies emerged from the CNE. This prompted a mass mobilization by left-wing and progressive organizations in front of the electoral bodies’ headquarters in Quito on September 29.