Noboa to Trial

TSE (the official electoral body of the Ecuadorian Government) announced that it will try Alvaro Noboa for his failure to pay a $6.3 million fine. This fine was imposed for exceeding the limit of expenditures on his campaign in the first round of the election last year. Those of you loyal readers (or those of you who were interested in Ecuadorian politics) may remember that Alvaro Noboa led a campaign based on buying votes with gifts ranging from T-shirts to computers to wheelchairs to houses to just plain cash. Given this strategy, it should be no surprise that he went over.

Beyond the fine (that Noboa refuses to pay) the head of TSE said that they could confiscate his assets (he reportedly owns 110 companies and is considered the richest man in Ecuador) and that he could lose his seat on the Constituent Assembly.