Un derecho a medias: análisis del uso de la silla vacía en la ciudad del GAD de Machala, 2019-2020

Abstract

The empty chair is a citizen participation mechanism, which allows citizen representatives to exercise their right to participate, with voice and vote in relation to public interest issues, whose application in the GAD Machala is analyzed in this paper. For this purpose, municipal minutes were compiled in the period from May 2019 to May 2020, which correspond to the first year of Mayor Darío Macas Salvatierra management. Likewise, citizen surveys were conducted to find out their perception of the validity of this right. As a result, it was determined that, within the period analyzed, the empty chair was occupied in 94.5% of the sessions; however, these data reflect a different reality than the citizen's perception. In addition, there was little participation and/or opinion in the sessions, and not everyone exercised their right to vote. In conclusion, it is essential to highlight that the effort of the GAD Machala, and all the Autonomous and Decentralized Governments, should not only be focused on good statistics for accountability reports, but also on fully satisfying participation rights.