Corrupción de actores políticos y desafección ciudadana por la participación en los procesos electorales en el cantón Pasaje

Abstract

This research study has focused on the corruption of political actors and citizen disaffection by participation in electoral processes in the canton Pasaje. In the national context there is little research on the subject and at the Technical University of Machala, undergraduate studies are focused on citizen participation in a general way. Therefore, the issue to be addressed is of great relevance, since, at present, political representatives are seen as the owners of the power that manage budgets without accountability to the inhabitants; this has led to the negative perception of citizens towards the corruption of political actors in their political management, affecting the image of popular election authorities as they are; mayor, councillors and parish boards. The investigation is justified in the obvious criticism by the citizens of the canton Pasaje towards the political actors of the Municipal Decentralized Autonomous Government, or by different acts of corruption carried out during the period of their government. The main objective of the investigation is to determine the cause-effect relationship between corruption of political actors and citizen disaffection by electoral processes, as it is evidenced to distance the inhabitants from political participation. The methodology used in this research is of a qualitative nature, since it stands out for the study of reality interpreting the phenomenon directly, that is, with the population, in such a way, that it proceeded to conduct in-depth interviews with 32 citizens of urban and rural parishes of the Canton Pasaje such as: Tres Cerritos, Ochoa León, Loma de Franco, Cañaquemada, La Peaña and Buenavista. Bibliographic information such as: academic documents and scientific papers currently published was available to carry out the research. Likewise, the sample is non-probabilistic, for which, the accidental or consecutive technique was made use, that is, the researchers choose the field of study and select the subjects to be interviewed. The results of the investigation reveal that citizens are distrustful of politicians in general, by acts of corruption that spread in the media, so most of them do not participate in politics, as they are not interested in being part of political parties or social organizations, or engaging in political activities typical of the electoral era. Moreover, citizens do not report acts of corruption, despite claiming corruption; it should be emphasized that young people are the ones with the greatest political disaffection. In view of this situation, the proposal called "Importance of political participation in democracy at the local level" was raised, in which training workshops will be developed for young people between 18 and 29 years of age in the urban and rural parishes of the canton Pasaje, to promote the formation of culture and political participation and the involvement of young people in political participation. The objective, for the implementation of the proposal, is to generate basic knowledge about local policy and democracy; encourage young people's political participation in democratic processes. Integration strategies will therefore be established through practice-based workshops where discussions will be held for participants to comment on relevant topics to be addressed in training.