More electoral expenditure control for candidates

Ecuadornews:

Thefinancial analysis to grant the promotion fund, in view of the 2019 elections,will be the exclusive task of the five members of the definitive NationalElectoral Council (CNE). The councilors will be held today, November 20, 2018,in the Plenary of the National Assembly.

The officials will arrive at the organization with the electoral promotion regulation approved by the transitory members. They delineated the regulations to establish greater control of the guidelines. This will apply to both the content and the recruitment processes for the campaign.

Camila Moreno, a former temporary adviser, said that they tried to reinforce control,due to the problems they had to control the payments for propaganda in thepress, radio, television and billboards. She added that in previous electionsthis was handled without considering public procurement processes.

The electoral promotion fund is the amount that the State allocates to political organizations for the dissemination of their proposals, based on principles of equality and equity. To define this value, the CNE calculates the number of voters in each district and the number of qualified candidates for the sectional dignities. It is planned that the promotion fund will be approved before the start of the electoral campaign, scheduled for February 5 of next year.

Diana Atamaint, councilor of the definitive CNE, said that the previous control will seek to avoid inconveniences. “Before there were problems in disbursements because some requirements were not met,” she said. The official said that the CNE will assume control and issue authorizations for political organizations to review their contents.

In the sectional elections of 2014, the electoral promotion fund reached USD 19.5 million for 28 180 candidates who served in the elections. In this process, the largest percentage of the fund was allocated to candidates for mayors.

They were followed by aspiring prefectures and councilors (urban and rural). Those who received the least were the candidates for representatives of rural parochial boards. Guillermo Celi, director of SUMA, believes that actions that “pay for transparency” in the use of state resources are healthy. He recalled that in previous electoral processes, the CNE carried out a “thorough” control of the opposition movements, but the same did not happen with the official political shop.

Geovanni Atarihuana, National Director of Unidad Popular, argued that political organizations have no direct contact with the resources of the promotion fund. He added that the guidelines were made through a system of slots and suppliers accredited by the CNE. “On paper, this already exists, but it is a good decision,” Atarihuana said. Fausto Camacho, ex vocal of the CNE, believes that it should be better defined how the authorization will be made prior to the process, with funds from the electoral promotion fund.

In his opinion, this and other aspects of the schedule should be analyzed by the final CNE Plenary. Another issue that the transitional CNE delegated to the final directors is the approval of the promotion regulations for the candidates for the Participation Council (Cpccs).

In the budget of USD 99.3 million to organize the elections, USD 6 million were reserved to promote the candidates of this process, which will be held for the first time in the country. Until the close of this edition, 29 applicants were qualified.

The directors in charge announced that the new CNE will decide if the entire budget of USD 6 million is executed, since the number of applicants for the Cpccs was reduced. Initially, there was a screening with 500 candidates.

The last activity carried out yesterday by the members in charge was to substantiate the public hearings of six Cpccs candidates who were challenged. Fausto Lupera, Pablo Ponce, Ramiro Armijos, Maria Rosa Chalá, Christian Cruz and Walter Gómez exercised their right to defense, after their applications were questioned.

With the publication of the final list of candidates for Cpccs, the transitory CNE will finish its functions, after 110 days and 35 plenary sessions.

The Transitional National Electoral Council (CNE) recommended yesterday to give way to the call for Popular Consultation in Quimsacocha, Girón sang, province of Azuay, which will allow mining there or not.

Themeasure was approved with the votes of the directors in charge Gustavo Vega,Alberto Molina and Camila Moreno. They finish their assignment this Monday. Thevocalists José Cabrera and Diana Atamaint were not at that point. The requestfor the Popular Consultation began in July 2015, when the representatives ofthe parishes of La Asunción and San Gerardo delivered signatures of support.The Loma Larga mining project is being developed in Quimsacocha since 2011. Thefinal CNE members must ratify the decision of the transitory council. (I)

Source: https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/control-fondo-promocion-elecciones-seccionales.html