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Background

ELECTIONS IN ECUADOR: PROGRESS REPORT BY OAS ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION

QUITO, Ecuador—The second round of voting for President and Vice President of Ecuador, as well as the referendum, took place yesterday in an atmosphere of calm, and the voters were thus able to freely exercise their franchise.

The polling station workers were duly responsible and civic-minded in providing the voters the necessary assistance to cast their ballots. Political party representatives were also on hand to ensure that the process was transparent and complied with the law.

The 80 international monitors were deployed to various provinces. In their qualitative assessment of the process, they identified a series of key election day issues and helped conduct a “quick count.”

There were isolated difficulties relating to electoral law violations which, while not affecting the overall election process, did raise questions that must be addressed so as to ensure that future elections are conducted more effectively.
Leaders and activists from both political parties lodged verbal complaints related to campaigning by the rival party.

The Mission urges electoral officials and the organizations themselves to work together to establish more clear-cut guidelines and restrictions on activities in which political party operatives can engage on election day.

The Mission also urges the electoral officials to continue taking steps to ensure that everyone is allowed to vote and believes that future elections would benefit from better logistics regarding display screens and where they are placed to ensure greater privacy while voting.

In addition, the Mission is also observing the official results posted by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and trusts that the country’s top electoral authorities and the provincial authorities are committed to a successful post-election phase, making good on the constitutional commitment to efficient and transparent elections and a timely release of the final results.

By law and under the constitution, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal is the only institution that can declare winners. As such, the transparent conduct of this second round of voting is of critical importance to a successful end to this electoral process.

The results posted by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, with more than 47% of the final votes counted, reflect a trend that is consistent with projections from the exit polls and the quick count done by Participación Ciudadana and the OAS Electoral Observation Mission itself. The Mission trusts that provincial election officials will redouble their efforts to complete the vote count so that citizens can learn the official results of the election without delay.

The Mission again calls on the country’s political and social sectors to await the official results from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and to respectfully and humbly accept the popular will as expressed yesterday at the polls.

Ecuador has been consolidating a number of key elements of its electoral processes, notwithstanding some outstanding issues regarding the strengthening of the country’s election system.

Thanks to the welcome and cooperation received from the Ecuadorian state, government institutions, political parties and organized civil society, and in particular, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the OAS Electoral Observation Mission was able to properly monitor the electoral process.


Press Contact: Carlos Flores Ledesma (09710-7563)

Reference: EOM-EC-9