The National Electoral Council of Ecuador guaranteed the transparency of the ballot: “Computer failures were a thing of the past”

“The CNE has taken the necessary measures and strengthened its mechanism to guarantee transparency. Computer failures are a thing of the past ”. This is what the president of the organization, Diana Atamaint said., during the inauguration of the day of the elections, this Sunday, April 11, 2021. In his speech, Atamaint also declared that itOnce the voting day is over and the votes have been counted in the reception tables, the public will be able to observe the first official results from 7:00 p.m. (00h00 GMT), and “whose transmission will not be interrupted at any time”.

The manager also referred to the exit surveys that companies will present at 5:00 p.m. and recalled that “these are not official results, but projections with a margin of error which should in no case be confused with the control official. The final information on the results is that which the CNE will provide ”.

The head of the electoral body added that “defending democracy is a moral duty and an inescapable task of history” and that “the stake is to develop a plural, tolerant and multicolored democracy”.

The polling stations opened their doors this Sunday at 7 a.m. in the presidential second round, a call to which more than 13 million voters are called to vote. Ecuadorians decide between two pairs that include candidacies for the presidency and vice-presidency: that of Correísmo, led by Andrés Arauz and Carlos Rabascall, by the movement Unión Por la Esperanza (UNES), while Guillermo approves the alliance curator Creo-PSC Lasso and Alfredo Borrero.

Election day was inaugurated at the headquarters of the National Electoral Council and will last ten hours until its end at 17. “I officially declare this second round of voting for the general elections of 2021 inaugurated”, proclaimed Atamaint in a law with restrictions access due to the strict measures applied due to the increasing spread of covid-19.

Atamaint pointed out that 294 international observers watch the day in person and virtually, and that 80,393 delegates from political organizations will be an “additional guarantee of the legitimacy of this process”.

Ecuadorian Vice-President María Alejandra Muñoz, who opened the event, urged voters to “invest” their lives “without fear of choosing, of voting, of deciding. Yes, today is the day to decide and say yes to democracy, freedom and peace ”.

Ecuadorians decide between two opposing points of view, that of the left correísmo – which ruled the country between 2007 and 2017 – and that of conservative neoliberalism, although in both cases their candidates had to lean towards the center during the campaign to seek allies. outside of their ideological orbits. According to the polls, the indecisive and zero vote was around 30% and it will be crucial for today’s election.

On election day, more than 410,000 Ecuadorians abroad are also eligible to vote, divided into three constituencies: Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean; Europe, Asia and Oceania; and the United States and Canada.

Unlike the first ballot, which took place on February 7, in which representatives of the Legislative Assembly were also elected, voters this time around will cast a single ballot containing two ballot boxes, which will facilitate control of receiving polling stations.

In Ecuador el voto es obligatorio para los ciudadanos entre los 18 y los 65 años de edad, mientras que es facultativo para los jóvenes from los 16 años y adultos mayores, así como para los residentes de forma legal en el país durante más de five years. In case of non-vote, the established fine is 40 dollars, and in case of suffering from covid-19, the voter must prove that it is positive to be exempted from sanction.

The CNE has installed more than 4,200 polling stations to house nearly 40,000 polling stations, supervised by 271,642 members, mostly young university students, in the country’s 24 provinces. Thursday, the first day of the elections began with the vote of people deprived of their liberty without an enforceable sentence, and Friday for people with disabilities and over 50 years according to the modality of home voting.

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