Patricia Briones

Patricia Ignacia Briones Fernández (born 18 August 1962) is an Ecuadorian politician. She was the first female mayor of Portoviejo.

Political career
Patricia Briones was born in Portoviejo, Ecuador on 18 August 1962.

Briones entered public conscious as a beauty queen in 1976. Two years later, she was crowned the National Queen of Coffee. In the 2002 Ecuadorian legislative election, 2002, Briones was elected an alternate deputy to Simón Bustamante, representing the Social Christian Party. She presented herself as a candidate for the office of Mayor of Portoviejo in the 2004 Ecuadorian provincial elections, again for the Social Christian Party. With 31.71% of the vote, becoming the first woman to be the mayor of Portoviejo. In early July 2005, Briones led a general strike of the city government to demand aid from the central government for aid with city projects. The strike ended when government ministers Rafael Correa and Wellington Sandoval agreed to grant the City of Portoviejo 62 million dollars for its projects. The city was paralysed for five days, costing six billion dollars and preventing entrance into the city via 25 barricades, making it the longest strike in the history of Manabí Province.

In the 2013 Ecuadorian legislative election, Briones ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the National Assembly for the Avanza party.