By Alexandra Valencia
QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa – a millennial business heir who won a new term on Sunday by an unexpectedly wide margin – may struggle to push bills through the country’s divided legislature, where his election rival’s coalition is close to a majority.
His mother – doctor and lawmaker Annabella Azin – might be a big part of the solution, if he’s willing to take on some political risk.
Azin, 63, was elected to the assembly in February with more votes than any other candidate, putting her in the running to be elected assembly president when the new session begins on May 14.
Lawmakers from Noboa’s National Democratic Action party have said Azin would be a great choice to lead the assembly and Azin herself has said she would be willing.
Azin is well-known in Ecuador from her decades of work as the face of the wealthy Noboa family’s charitable initiative Crusade for a New Humanity, which provides free healthcare and medications, especially in rural areas.
Her husband – Noboa’s father – is Alvaro Noboa, whose business empire expanded from banana exports into dozens of other companies. Noboa senior unsuccessfully ran for president five times, sometimes with Azin as his vice presidential candidate. The couple have four children.
Having a close ally running assembly sessions or directing the assembly’s most important committees might help Noboa’s party push through banner legislation to shore up security and attract more private investment to the oil sector, among other priorities.
His party has 66 seats, though two of its lawmakers have said negotiations with smaller parties are ongoing and it can already count on three more seats as part of its bloc.
The socialist Citizens’ Revolution has 67 seats and has agreed a loose coalition deal with Indigenous party Pachakutik, which has nine seats, putting them one seat short of a majority of the 151 lawmakers.
But Citizens’ Revolution may be fractured after their presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez lost to Noboa. She has called for a recount, while other party heavyweights and Pachakutik, as well as outside observers, have recognized Noboa’s win.
Azin as assembly president could be more hindrance than help for Noboa, said political analyst Alfredo Espinosa.
“Symbolically it would be significant,” he said. “But politically it would be a mistake – you can’t demolish checks and balances in a democratic system, it can’t be that the son is the head of the executive branch and the mother the head of the legislative branch.”
“It wouldn’t be very democratic and would create serious doubt about the role the assembly will play,” Espinosa added.
Azin may not agree to put herself forward for the post to avoid accusations of unfairness, said Francis Romero of pollster Click Research.
Either way, Noboa’s party will likely secure the assembly presidency and his socialist rivals – founded by former president Rafael Correa – will need to think carefully how they approach their opposition role, the pollster said.
“If the Correista movement in the assembly thinks it can oppose everything the president does, it will be marching toward its end,” Romero said.
If she is elected as assembly president, Azin will place the ceremonial presidential sash on her son when he is sworn in on May 24.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Christian Plumb and Rosalba O’Brien)
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