# 1996 Ecuadorian general election

General elections were held in Ecuador on 19 May 1996, with a second round of the presidential elections on 7 July. Although Jaime Nebot of the Social Christian Party received the most votes in the first round, Abdalá Bucaram of the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party won the run-off with 54.5% of the vote. The Social Christian Party remained the largest in the Chamber of Deputies, winning 27 of the 82 seats.
Until the 2013 vote, this was the last election held after the natural expiration of a four-year presidential term. This due to a decade of political and economical instability that Ecuador experienced after Bucaram was impeached by the Congress in early 1997 and that lasted until Rafael Correa's inauguration in early 2007.

## Results
### President

| Candidate | Candidate | Party | First round | First round | Second round | Second round |
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| | Jaime Nebot | Social Christian Party | 1,035,101 | 27.17 | 1,910,651 | 45.53 |
| | Abdalá Bucaram | Ecuadorian Roldosist Party | 1,001,071 | 26.28 | 2,285,397 | 54.47 |
| | Freddy Ehlers | Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement – New Country | 785,124 | 20.61 | | |
| | Rodrigo Paz | Popular Democracy | 513,464 | 13.48 | | |
| | Frank Vargas Pazzos | Ecuadorian Revolutionary Popular Action [es] | 187,935 | 4.93 | | |
| | Ricardo Noboa [es] | FRA–PLRE | 115,033 | 3.02 | | |
| | Juan José Castelló | Democratic People's Movement | 89,472 | 2.35 | | |
| | José Gallardo | Civic Independent Union | 46,464 | 1.22 | | |
| | Jacinto Velásquez | Independent | 36,080 | 0.95 | | |
| Total | Total | Total | 3,809,744 | 100.00 | 4,196,048 | 100.00 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 3,809,744 | 84.18 | 4,196,048 | 87.83 |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 716,137 | 15.82 | 581,478 | 12.17 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 4,525,881 | 100.00 | 4,777,526 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 6,662,003 | 67.94 | 6,662,003 | 71.71 |
| Source: Nohlen |||||||

### National Congress

| Party | Party | National | National | Constituency | Constituency | Total seats | +/– |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Votes | % | Total seats | +/– |
| | Social Christian Party | 1,069,977 | 30.36 | 983,850 | 27.89 | 27 | +1 |
| | Ecuadorian Roldosist Party | 718,983 | 20.40 | 752,276 | 21.32 | 19 | +8 |
| | Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement – New Country | 379,056 | 10.76 | 251,488 | 7.13 | 8 | New |
| | Popular Democracy | 370,311 | 10.51 | 418,381 | 11.86 | 11 | +7 |
| | FRA–PLRE | 243,411 | 6.91 | 148,014 | 4.20 | 2 | –1 |
| | Democratic Left | 219,536 | 6.23 | 251,505 | 7.13 | 4 | –4 |
| | Democratic People's Movement | 153,714 | 4.36 | 150,176 | 4.26 | 2 | –6 |
| | Ecuadorian Revolutionary Popular Action [es] | 105,902 | 3.01 | 123,732 | 3.51 | 2 | 0 |
| | Concentration of People's Forces | 80,245 | 2.28 | 68,070 | 1.93 | 1 | 0 |
| | Conservative Party–UN | 72,434 | 2.06 | 79,794 | 2.26 | 1 | –5 |
| | Socialist Party–Broad Front | 43,621 | 1.24 | 46,462 | 1.32 | 5 | – |
| | Latin American People's Union | 28,998 | 0.82 | 17,612 | 0.50 | 5 | – |
| | National Alfarismo Party | 22,987 | 0.65 | 30,080 | 0.85 | 5 | – |
| | Independent Transformative Insurgency Movement | 14,771 | 0.42 | 3,016 | 0.09 | 5 | – |
| | Alfarista Radical Front | | | 9,485 | 0.27 | 5 | – |
| | Ecuadorian Radical Liberal Party | | | 5,467 | 0.15 | 5 | – |
| | ID–PSFA | | | 3,501 | 0.10 | 5 | – |
| | Civic Independent Union | | | 1,965 | 0.06 | 5 | – |
| | Other parties | | | 183,256 | 5.19 | 5 | – |
| Total | Total | 3,523,946 | 100.00 | 3,528,130 | 100.00 | 82 | +5 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 3,523,946 | 77.94 | 3,528,130 | 78.12 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 997,261 | 22.06 | 988,067 | 21.88 | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 4,521,207 | 100.00 | 4,516,197 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 6,662,003 | 67.87 | 6,662,003 | 67.79 | |
| Source: Nohlen ||||||||