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Statement of the Group of Auditors Electoral Process in Bolivia

  November 10, 2019

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Secretariat for Strengthening of Democracy (SSD)
Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation (DECO)

Electoral integrity analysis
General Elections in the Plurinational State of Bolivia
October 20, 2019

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS
REPORT TO THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT

BACKGROUND
On October 30, the OAS General Secretariat and the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia signed the agreements relating to the analysis of the electoral integrity of the elections held on October 20. Those documents established that the Government would provide every facility needed to perform a proper audit of the official vote count in the elections of October 20, along with verification of the tally sheets, statistical aspects, the electoral process, and the chain of custody. It was likewise agreed that the authorities would provide the OAS experts with full access to their installations, as well as any information regarding the elections that the team considered relevant.

At the same time, it was established that the audit would focus on Election Day (October 20) and on subsequent stages and that, upon completing its analysis, the group of specialists would deliver a report to the Secretary General, who would remit it to the Government of Bolivia.
In addition, in order to ensure both maximum seriousness and rigor, it was established that the conclusions would be binding upon the parties to the process.

On instructions from the Secretary General, a team was formed consisting of 36 specialists of 18 different nationalities, including electoral attorneys, statisticians, I.T. experts, document specialists, handwriting experts, experts in chain of custody and experts in electoral organization. The group of experts and auditors arrived in Bolivia on October 31 and began their activities on November 1.

The purpose of the electoral integrity analysis was to acquire detailed insight into the processes involved in the vote count, the transmission of preliminary results, the official tally, and the chain of custody of electoral materials, so as to verify, on the basis of that information, the integrity and reliability of the electoral results of October 20, 2019.

To achieve that objective, the technical team proceeded to audit the following:

A. The authenticity and reliability of the vote count records (tally sheets) and of the data input into the electoral results transmission system and the official count system.
B. The Plan for comprehensive custody of all electoral materials (tally sheets, ballots, voters register).
C. Infrastructure and operation of the I.T. systems used to transmit preliminary results and the official count.
D. Uploading flows of the data on preliminary electoral results and the official count.

The team worked continuously, compiling, systematizing, and analyzing information through to November 9. In addition, more than 250 complaints regarding the electoral process were received, both physically and via an e-mail address established for that purpose. Based on the work of the various audit teams, preliminary findings are as follows...

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Reference: E-099/19