Ecuadorian general election, 1998

Ecuadorian general election, 1998

← 1996 May 30, 1998 (1998-05-30) 2002 →
Nominee Jamil Mahuad Álvaro Noboa Party DP PRE Running mate Gustavo Noboa Alfredo Castillo Popular vote 2,243,000 2,140,481 Percentage 51.17% 48.83%
Map of results of the second round by provinces.
President before election Fabian Alarcon FRA Elected President Jamil Mahuad DP

Fabian Alarcon
FRA

Jamil Mahuad
DP

General elections were held in Ecuador on 31 May 1998, with a second round of the presidential elections on 12 July. The result was a victory for Jamil Mahuad of the DP–UDC alliance, who won the run-off with 51.2% of the vote. The DP–UDC alliance also emerged as the largest party in the National Congress, winning 32 of the 120 seats.

Following the 1996 general elections, President Abdalá Bucaram was removed from office by Congress nine months later on grounds of mental incapacity. Fabian Alarcon thereupon took his place as caretaker Head of State.

The leading contestants of the six (including two women) vying for the presidency were Jamil Mahuad (DP–UDC), the mayor of Quito, and Álvaro Noboa (Ecuadorian Roldosist Party), a wealthy businessman. Campaign debates were marked by personal accusations of drug links and threatened lawsuits between the two rivals, alongside statements on substantive policy questions relating primarily to corruption and the country’s ailing economy. Problems in this latter sector (high inflation, budget deficit) had been aggravated by the sociological and infrastructural damage caused by the climatic phenomenon known as El Niño and the worldwide drop in oil prices, Ecuador’s main export earner. Mahuad advocated an intense program of private investment to achieve a 5% annual growth rate, privatizations, job creation and housing construction.