General elections in Ecuador may lead to the emergence of an anti-establishment or extremist presidential candidate, while a simultaneous referendum threatens the country's oil output. On Aug. 20, Ecuadorians will elect their next president and all 137 members of the county's unicameral Congress, as well as vote in a concurrent national referendum on whether the country should continue drilling for oil in an ecologically important section of the Amazon jungle. In a separate referendum in Quito, voters in the capital city will also decide whether to halt mining in the Choco Andino Biosphere Reserve, which is home to the endangered Andean Spectacled Bear. The main candidates running in the presidential election include populist Luisa Gonzalez, right-wing businessman Jan Topic, Indigenous leader Yaku Perez, center-right former Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner and center-left Christian Zurita (who replaced assassinated candidate Fernando Villavicencio). According to Ecuador's electoral rules, if no presidential candidate obtains at...
