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OAS signs agreement with the Electoral Council of Ecuador to observe the elections
Posted On 21 Mar 2019
Ecuadornews:
The Organization of American States (OAS) signed an agreement in Quito on Wednesday with the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Ecuador to observe the local elections next Sunday, March 24 and guarantee its transparency.
The formal signing of the agreement, which forms part of the international cooperation protocols, was carried out by the CNE president, Diana Atamaint, and the head of the OAS observation mission, the former vice president of Costa Rica between 2006 and 2007, Kevin Casas.
Casas indicated that from the inter-American mission they develop “work with impartiality, neutrality, objectivity, in accordance with a series of principles that govern the work of international electoral observation.”
He also gave details about the team of specialists that make up the OAS oversight and the work they do throughout the electoral process and on the same voting day.
He indicated that the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) of the OAS, is composed of 35 members, deployed in 18 provinces of Ecuadorian territory and stressed that “they are specialists in different areas” that include, the organization and electoral technology.
They will also be in charge of “watching over the participation” of women and of indigenous people and people of African descent, assured Casas.
The president of the CNE added that the organization guarantees an observation of “open doors, which does not restrict in any way the possibility of looking at the technical, operational, logistics, in addition to the procedures in the electoral process.”
For his part, the president of the Contentious Electoral Court, Joaquín Viteri, present at the event, stressed that “the participation of international observations give an endorsement and a tranquility to the country, because the transparency of the electoral process is guaranteed very directly” .
With the signing of the agreement a dissent is closed following the scuffle caused by controversial statements in January by Atamaint, who accused the OAS observation mission of failing to comply with electoral regulations during the February 2018 referendum. American organization denied.
On February 11, the CNE plenary session finally gave permission to the OAS mission to supervise the electoral process, so that the agreement signed today served to formalize the electoral observation of the body in the upcoming elections.
The mission is expected to remain in Ecuador after the elections known as sectionals and prepare a preliminary report of the voting process.
Next Sunday, March 24, at least 13 million Ecuadorians are called to exercise their right to vote.
In these elections, 23 prefects and 23 vice-prefects of the provinces will be elected, 221 mayors, 864 urban councilors, 443 rural councilors and 4,094 members of the rural parish boards.
In addition, the seven principal directors and seven substitutes of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (Cpccs) will be elected. (I)
