Ecuador's party system collapsed after years of patronage and pretense

In Ecuador, solid political parties no longer exist; instead, there are improvised electoral shops. The phenomenon was laid bare in the 2025 general elections, where only two forces obtained more than 88% of the valid votes and the rest barely registered.

The legacy of socialism and correísmo caused a degeneration of the political system, based on strongmen, borrowed candidacies, and movements that are born and die according to the electoral cycle. The result is a representation without substance or social roots.

Historic parties such as PSC and Pachakutik lost significant presence in the Assembly. Construye, which once led the Legislature, now holds only one seat. The rest disappeared from the parliamentary map without a trace.

The electoral regulations do not require proof of party membership or real party activity, so any actor with capital can register lists and lend them as a business. The lack of oversight by the CNE has been complicit in this decline.

ADN and the Citizen Revolution share 134 of the 151 seats. This means that the other parties are politically liquidated, with no visible figures or structure to support them in future local processes.

Reforms to the Democracy Code are urgent, but electoral authorities have acted passively. Meanwhile, each new electoral process is filled with names that nobody knows and that represent no one. The only alternative to save democratic institutions is to legally require the existence of parties with organic life, cadre training, internal democracy, and verifiable representation. Otherwise, the country will remain in the hands of soulless political machines.

Correísmo destroyed the parties with its personalist and clientelist model. Now, after its own collapse, it has left behind a political wasteland where only groups capable of controlling or resisting power survive.

Without renewal or real alternatives, Ecuadorian democracy becomes a fiction every four years.