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OAS MISSION HIGHLIGHTS “NORMALCY” IN ECUADOREAN ELECTIONS AND URGES NEED TO “STRENGTHEN” OVERSIGHT OF NEXT ELECTIONS

In a report presented to the Permanent Council members of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Electoral Observation Mission of the hemispheric institution (EOM\OAS) expressed its satisfaction with the “peaceful, respectful and free” environment in which the elections of April 26 and of June 14 were carried out, but urged the need to “strengthen” supervision in the process of the next elections. The April vote was for the election of President, Vice-president, National and Provincial Deputies, Majors and Councilmen, while the vote carried out in June was for the election of Deputies of the Andean Parliament and Rural Church Boards in Ecuador.


The Director for the Department of Cooperation and Observation of the OAS, Pablo Gutiérrez, who presented the report on behalf of the EOM Chief, Enrique Correa, highlighted the elections as “the first time in Ecuadorian history that the electoral function is recognized as one of the State powers”.

Likewise, Mr. Gutierrez stressed the inclusion of new voters in the electoral roll, such as military men and policemen in active service, individuals of age 16 and 17, detainees without prison sentences and foreigners residing in the country for more than five years.

With respect to the development of the electoral process, the EOM representative called attention to delays at the beginning of the process, as well as in the collection of votes and the delivery of the ballots, which had an effect, he said, “on the timely presentation of the results.”

Mr. Gutierrez also emphasized the continued presence of the Mission throughout the process as well as an appeal made to clear up the “atmosphere of uncertainty” that surrounded the electoral results.

In spite of highlighting the “normalcy” of the elections, the document also made important recommendations. “Strengthen the mechanisms to oversee electoral campaigns and the use of other State resources, which implies systematic follow-up and major legislation compliance.”

In the same way, the Mission advised “a compromise by political party representatives to encourage actions within their organizations directed to improve supervision capability for the next elections”, and to make a “thorough review of the functioning of the secondary mechanisms of scrutiny with the goal of speeding up the publication of results without the sacrifice of certitude.”

The EOM official also stressed the necessity to “work on initiatives to train party members, and install a communication network, mainly in logistics to be implemented in collecting and transporting information.”


Following the presentation of the report, Agustín Fornell, the Alternate Representative of Ecuador to the OAS, added that “these elections were a challenge to the different political actors, not only because of the complexities in any electoral process, but because of the significant changes made as a result of the new law contained in the new Constitution.”

Reference: E-E-252/09