Ecuador's election ennui

Ecuadoreans may feel poll-weary. They vote in their third national election in ten months this Sunday.

Casting a vote is a byzantine affair; so vast and unwieldy are the lists of 3,229 candidates that it will take the average voter seven minutes to complete ballot papers. Ignorance is widespread about how and why to vote, and the latest opinion polls suggest that over half the electorate is undecided.  Campaigning has been dirty, marked by President Rafael Correa's vitriolic attacks on his opponents, and demagoguery from all sides.

Election ennui aside, the government's own Pais movement will probably secure the largest block in the 130-seat constituent assembly, though not the absolute majority needed to control drafting of the new constitution.  Correa will steamroller through opposition regardless.  He has a track record of appealing over the heads of representatives to the public at large, setting aside the law if he believes that the "will of the people" is being frustrated.