Among the many causes alluded to when explaining the problems of the Andean countries, and especially those of Ecuador, the crisis of representation has grown in importance in recent years. Scholarly analyses as well as politicians refer to a "crisis of representation" as an unquestionable fact that obstructs policy making and implementation (Barrera 2001; F. Bustamante 2000). Allegedly, deficiencies in representativeness result in problems of governability and conditions unfavorable to the consolidation of democracy. This perspective suggests that those deficiencies derive from the voters' dissatisfaction with the meager results of politicians' actions in their role as authorities of popular representation, and that, at the same time, this dissatisfaction leads to mistrust not only of the people involved but of the institutions and the system as a whole. As a result, following a period of exploration as voters experiment with different options, they finally reject representative democracy and focus on alternative options, ranging from seemingly innovative proposals to the election of anti-system leaders.