Creating Opportunities

the bumpy transition between opposition to government in less than a decade

Abstract

The Ecuadorian political movement Creating Opportunities (CREO) was founded in 2011. In 2013 it had its first participation in general elections, achieving second place, although without managing to force a runoff. In the 2017 elections, it entered the second round with 28.09% of the vote and managed to gather the support of other important sectors, coming in second place with 48.84%. Finally, in 2021, although with fewer absolute votes, it managed to win the presidency with 52.36%. In this way, just ten years after its founding, this political movement with a neoliberal orientation managed to take over the Executive. From the perspective of the competitive approach of political parties, this dizzying transition from opposition to government offers an analytical opportunity to explore some aspects related to the life cycle of political organizations in current times. This is further accentuated when considering that CREO could not finish the four-year mandate, since the President of the Republic applied the so-called “crossed death” –a constitutional mechanism with which the mandates of the Legislature and the Executive end early, requiring anticipated elections. In these, CREO did not present candidates.