CNE answers to suggestions from OAS

Last Wednesday, the oral report regarding the elections of February of 2013, was submitted by Rafael Albuquerque before the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, and Vice President of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Paul Salazar said that all recommendations are always welcome, but that does not mean they have the obligation to comply with them or to apply them, because that will be based on the realities of the country.

Rafael Albuquerque

One of the recommendations of the OAS was based on the use of public resources for the campaigns, citing the Democracy Code, which explicitly prohibits the use of such resources, and recommended the development of regulations that define scopes and boundaries of the electoral process, considering a sanction system.

On his behalf, Salazar said the CNE would have to discuss the issue because it cannot obstruct the work of central or sectional governments in the dissemination of the activities that should be presented. Also, he revealed that they are currently studying the possibility of developing a regulation or a solution about that issue on the next elections. “This is a fine line that has to be analyzed, so that we do not interfere with government actions, but neither to allow an advantage for political campaigning.”

Also there were other recommendations, such as preferential voting for the elderly, pregnant or women with children in arms and voting at home, which was applied on Tungurahua this year for people with disabilities; consider reforms for effective gender equality on electoral participation and planning further in advance for drills and testing, development of security policies and end with the training of members of the polling stations.