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Observation Missions in Peru and Ecuador Extolled Efficiency and Progress in Electoral Processes

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) today received the reports by the Electoral Observation Missions (EOM) deployed in Peru and Ecuador for the elections held on June 5th and May 7th, 2011, respectively.

During the Council session, held at OAS headquarters, the Organization’s Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, remarked that “the electoral process in all of our countries is increasingly more normal and increasingly more transparent,” making special reference to the elections in Peru and Ecuador, and added that the OAS is “very proud to be a part of this process, in which more and more people want to participate.”

Peru

According to the report, the EOM that followed the second round of general elections in Peru was composed of 73 observers, 21 from Member States and 7 from Observer States, deployed throughout the Peruvian territory. The report indicates that the observation work was based on a sample designed to collect significant data about voter behavior.

In his presentation, the Chief of Mission, Ambassador Dante Caputo, asserted that “it is very difficult to write the account of this second round because things went very well in Peru,” while highlighting the normalcy of the conditions during the elections. “I cannot tell you about any incidents or violent acts or abnormalities because, simply, they did not happen,” he said, concluding that “electoral democracy is evolving and Peru is a good example of what Latin America is doing in this field.”

With respect to recommendations, the Argentine diplomat alluded to a pilot project of electronic voting, on which he suggested that officials designated by the political parties receive greater training on computer technology and better preparation. Furthermore, he said authorities should “fine tune everything involving the verification of identity and subsequent casting of the vote, making sure they are sequential inside the voting booths to ensure the voter privacy.”

The Permanent Representative of Peru to the OAS, Ambassador Hugo de Zela, congratulated and thanked the work of the EOM and of the OAS Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation (DECO), as well as the direction of Secretary General Insulza, and the financial contributions of the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Spain for that made possible the execution of the electoral observation.

Ecuador

DECO Director Pablo Gutiérrez, on behalf of the Chief of Mission and special envoy of the Secretary General, Enrique Correa, presented the report on the referendum and popular vote conducted in Ecuador on May 7th.

During his presentation, Gutiérrez noted the high level of participation by the citizenry, “which reached more than 77 percent,” the significant improvements in the administration of the electoral process, and the work conducted by the National Electoral Council (CNE) “in the logistics management of the election, the transparent and adequate publication of the results of the quick count, and the complete reengineering of the information technologies that support the counting process.”

In his conclusions, Gutiérrez presented a series of recommendations for the Ecuadorian authorities, including: to strengthen the mechanisms for supervising advertising and campaign expenses; to ensure access by the political delegates to the electoral process; to rethink the design of the vote counting process and marking of the ballots; to strengthen the training of members of vote tallying boards; and to emphasize planning.

The Electoral Observation Mission covered 10 of the country’s provinces, visited 178 polling stations and more than 700 vote tallying boards. The results of the poll handed a “YES” victory for the nine questions that apply at the national level and the other question was decided at the cantonal level.

For her part, the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the OAS, Ambassador María Isabel Salvador, thanked the EOM for its participation in the democratic activity and asserted that the recommendations and observations it produced “will be thoroughly analyzed by the National Electoral Council to proceed accordingly and within the frame of its own regulations and with respect for the sovereign decisions of the Ecuadorian people.”

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-808/11