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Quería que los ciudadanos votaran por la campaña.

Quería que los ciudadanos votaran por la campaña.
I wanted the citizens to vote for the campaign.
From Lesson 181:The imperfect subjunctive (-ra)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Quería que los ciudadanos votaran por la campaña.

Why is votaran in the imperfect subjunctive here?
The first verb quería (I wanted) expresses a desire in the past. When you express a past wish for someone else to do something, the second verb (after que) must be in the past subjunctive, which is the imperfect subjunctive.
How do we build the exact form votaran?
Start with the third-person plural (they) form of the past preterite tense, which is votaron. Drop the final -ron to get your stem (vota-), and then add the new imperfect subjunctive ending. For los ciudadanos (they), the ending is -ran, giving us votaran.
Does votaran need a written accent mark?
No. In the imperfect subjunctive, only the nosotros (we) form gets a written accent mark, as in votáramos. The ellos (they) form naturally stresses the second-to-last syllable, so votaran does not need an accent.
Why do we use por instead of para here?
In Spanish, you use por to express being in favor of or acting on behalf of something. Whenever you talk about voting for a candidate, a party, or a campaign, you will use the phrase votar por.

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