SUMA Party

{{Short description|Right-wing Neoliberal political party in Ecuador}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}

{{Infobox political party

| name = SUMA Party

| native_name = Partido Sociedad Unida Más Acción

| logo = Suma Ecuador.svg

| logo_size = 150px

| colorcode = {{party color|SUMA Party}}

| leader = Guillermo Celi

| secretary = Cristina López

| foundation = {{start date|2012|11|01|df=y}}

| seats1_title = Seats in the National Assembly

| seats1 = {{Composition bar|8|137|Turquoise}}including alliances

| seats3_title = Prefects

| seats3 = {{Composition bar|1|23|Turquoise}}including alliances

| seats4_title = Mayors

| seats4 = {{Composition bar|25|221|Turquoise}}including alliances

| ideology = Neoliberalism
Big tent

| headquarters = Quito

| website = https://www.suma.ec/

| country = Ecuador

| colors = {{color box|Turquoise}}Turquoise
{{color box|White}}White
{{color box|Orange}}Orange

| youth_wing = Youth SUMA 23

| membership = 153,414 (2016){{cite web | url=https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/politiko/1/la-cc-aun-no-tramita-el-pedido-de-aclaracion-por-supuesta-estafa | title=La CC aún no tramita el pedido de aclaración por supuesta estafa | date=6 September 2016 }}

| position = Right-wing

| national = Democratic Convergence for Unity (2015-2016)
Alliance for Change (2016-2023)
Let's Act (2023-)

}}

The United Society - More Action, or SUMA Party (Spanish: Partido Sociedad Unida Más Acción) is an Ecuadorian political party, founded by Mauricio Rodas and Guillermo Celi in 2012. The party was initially led by Rodas; it was under his leadership until his political retirement in 2019. The party currently is led by Celi.

History

Mauricio Rodas and Guillermo Celi founded the party in 2012, and attempted to register the party on May 15 with the National Electoral Council (CNE). Due to signature verification issues, the CNE rejected the party's registration.{{Cite web |date=2012-07-28 |title=Miles de firmas falsas constan en el registro electoral del CNE |url=https://www.eluniverso.com/2012/07/28/1/1355/miles-firmas-falsas-constan-registro-electoral-cne.html |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=El Universo |language=es}} Following this, the party appealed to the {{Interlanguage link|Electoral Contentious Tribunal|es|Tribunal Contencioso Electoral}}, which ruled in favor of SUMA; registering the party on November 1, 2012, with the electoral number 23. SUMA participated in the 2013 Ecuadorian general election, coming in fourth place in the presidential election receiving 3.9% of the vote, and obtaining one seat in the general assembly.{{Cite web |title=2013 elecciones generales diecisiete de febrero |url=https://www.cne.gob.ec/documents/publicaciones/2014/libro_resultados_electorales_2013-r.pdf |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.cne.gob.ec}}

Following the 2013 general election, Rodas launched his campaign for Metropolitan Mayor of Quito, winning the position in the 2014 local elections against then incumbent mayor Augusto Barrera, with 61% of the vote. At the national level, the party won 3 prefecture seats and 15 other mayorships. After taking office, Rodas began rapprochement with other parties and figures opposed to the government of Rafael Correa. On February 23, 2015, Rodas met with Jaime Nebot, the former mayor of Guayaquil, and {{Interlanguage link|Paúl Carrasco|es|Paúl Carrasco}}, the former prefect of Azuay, forming the coalition {{Interlanguage link|Democratic Convergence for Unity|es|La Unidad}}. SUMA participated in the coalition until October 7, 2016, in order to join the {{Interlanguage link|Alliance for Change (Ecuador)|lt=Alliance for Change|es|Alianza por el Cambio (Ecuador)}} coalition, formed and led by Guillermo Lasso and his CREO party.{{Cite web |date=2016-10-07 |title=El movimiento Suma ya no hace parte de la Unidad |url=https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2016/10/07/nota/5841517/movimiento-suma-ya-no-hace-parte-unidad |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=El Universo |language=es}}{{Cite web |date=2016-10-29 |title=Alianza por el Cambio, nueva plataforma electoral de Guillermo Lasso |url=https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2016/10/29/nota/5879212/alianza-cambio-nueva-plataforma-electoral-lasso |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=El Universo |language=es}} Following the 2017 Ecuadorian general election, SUMA received 8 seats.

Although Rodas began his period in the Metropolitan Mayor's Office of Quito with considerable popular acceptance, poor management, corruption scandals, among many other problems of his administration, eroded his political image; therefore, after finishing his term at the head of the capital municipality, he retired from national politics and went to reside in Mexico. Rodas' scandals tarnished SUMA's image,{{Cite web |title=Jugadores 2021: SUMA enfrenta la carrera presidencial en solitario |url=https://www.primicias.ec/noticias/politica/jugadores-suma-carrera-presidencial-solitario/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=Primicias |date=6 November 2020 |language=es}} so the movement sought to participate in the {{Interlanguage link|2019 local elections|es|Elecciones seccionales de Ecuador de 2019}} through multiple electoral alliances, mainly with right-wing and centrist political organizations, notably absent in the race for the mayoralty of Quito, after Mauricio Rodas' refusal to run for re-election. During the local elections, SUMA obtained two prefectures and 13 mayorships.

After Rodas' departure, the party's leadership was assumed by Guillermo Celi, who ran as SUMA's candidate in the 2021 Ecuadorian general election, obtaining tenth place, with only 0.91% of the vote. In the simultaneous legislative elections, the party did not win any seats. In the presidential runoff, Celi and SUMA once again supported Lasso, who was ultimately elected. Thus, after Guillermo Lasso took office, SUMA became part of government, with {{Interlanguage link|Sebastián Palacios Muñoz|es|Sebastián Palacios Muñoz}}, a party member, being appointed as Minister of Sports as a political quota.

In the extraordinary 2023 Ecuadorian general election, SUMA, together with the {{Interlanguage link|Advance Party (Ecuador)|es|Avanza}}, formed the Let's Act alliance, nominating former Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner, who finished in fifth place.

Election results

= Presidential elections =

chart

class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2" |Year

! colspan="2" |Candidates

! colspan="2" |First Round

! colspan="2" |Second Round

! rowspan="2" |Results

! rowspan="2" |Notes

President

!Vice President

!Votes

!%

!Votes

!%

2013

|Mauricio Rodas

|Ines Manzano

|335,532

|3.90%

! colspan="2" |

|4th place

|

2017

|Guillermo Lasso

|Veronica Seville

|2,653,403

|28.09%

|4,833,389

|48.84%

|2nd place

|In alliance with CREO

2021

|Guillermo Celi

|{{Interlanguage link|Andrés Páez|es|Andrés Páez}}

|84,737

|0.91%

! colspan="2" |

|10th place

|

2023

|Otto Sonnenholzner

|Erika Paredes

|696,548

|7.06%

! colspan="2" |

|5th plac

|Part of the Let's Act alliance

= Legislative elections =

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Votes

!%

!Seats

!+/-

!Notes

2013

|2,829,034

|3.22%

|{{Composition bar|1|137|Turquoise}}

|

|

2017

|20,589,460

|20.06%

|{{Composition bar|34|137|Turquoise}}

|{{increase}} 33

|In alliance with CREO

2021

|135,022

|1.68%

|{{Composition bar|0|137|Turquoise}}

|{{decrease}} 34

|

2023

|377,953

|4.51%

|{{Composition bar|7|137|Turquoise}}

|{{increase}} 7

|Part of the Let's Act alliance

2025

|149,404

|1.64%

|{{Composition bar|0|151|Turquoise}}

|{{decrease}} 7

|

= Local Elections =

class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2" |Year

! colspan="2" |Prefects

! colspan="2" |Mayors

% of Votes

!No. of Prefectures

!% of Votes

!No. of Mayors

2014

|8.69%

|{{Composition bar|2|23|Turquoise}}

|6.79%

|{{Composition bar|15|221|Turquoise}}

2019

|8.69%

|{{Composition bar|2|23|Turquoise}}

|5.88%

|{{Composition bar|13|221|Turquoise}}

2023

|4.35%

|{{Composition bar|1|23|Turquoise}}

|11.31%

|{{Composition bar|25|221|Turquoise}}

References