Ecuador's ruling party loses Quito in local elections

Ecuador's ruling party Alianza PAIS (AP) suffered its first electoral defeat in the local elections concluded on Sunday, as preliminary results released by the National Electoral Council (CNE) showed Monday that opposition candidates have won control of the capital city Quito and economic hub Guayaquil. The opposition Suma party's Mauricio Rodas, a 39-year-old former presidential candidate, will replace Quito's current mayor Augusto Barrera, who is an AP member, to administer the country's capital. President Rafael Correa said his government had "a major setback in the capital city Quito," adding that local factors influenced the results. Quito's current Mayor Barrera conceded defeat and blamed his setback on "errors in the campaign". "It's a sad day, we recognize the defeat and have to face the results," he said at the ruling party's headquarters in Quito. In Ecuador's biggest city and economic hub Guayaquil, the current mayor Jaime Nebot, who is a member of the opposition Social Christian party and has ruled the city for 13 years, successfully got reelected and had a lead of about 20 percentage points over his close contender. Despite the losses in Quito and Guayaquil, Correa said the local elections were still a victory for the ruling party in general. The local elections in the South American country started on Sunday, in which voters elected 5,651 local leadership positions out of 27,895 candidates. Some 11 million Ecuadorians exercised their right to vote for 221 mayors, 46 prefects and vice prefects, 867 urban councilors, 438 rural councilors and 4,079 parish members in the local elections. Voting opened at 07:00 local time and run until 17:00 (12:00 to 22:00 GMT). In Ecuador, voting is compulsory for people between 18 and 65 years and optional for those over 65 and for foreign residents. Some 158 international observers from organizations such as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Organization of American States (OAS) monitored the elections. In addition, more than 70,000 military and local police were in charge of security.