Opposition and Government Monitor Ballot Recount in Guayas

Guayas Board of Elections is the center of attention in the scrutiny process of the referendum. Yesterday, 64 plastic tables were brought to recount votes.

Employees of the entity under the gaze of a delegate of the Government (Yes option) and the opposition (No option) hand count vote by vote, after the polls were open. These votes are more than the 60% of the acts of the polling stations that have inconsistencies and novelties.

These records were suspended, so the process is delayed, said yesterday Enrique Pita, director of the Delegation of the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Guayas.

The recount of votes will be compared with the information in the records. In some cases there are inconsistencies in one or more questions, in some cases the votes do not match the number of voters. In other cases, the number of voters per table does not match.

According to the Government, the delay in the process of Guayas, Manabi, and other large provinces it is because of the narrow margin recorded in the CNE website. 32% of the votes of Guayas were counted of a total of 6 745, until yesterday 17:30.

Everything occurs under pressures from supporters of the “No” option and the “Yes” one. On one side there is MPD, RED, PSC, Sociedad Patriótica, and Madera de Guerrero. And on the other side Alianza País, Assembly members and government officials, that take the stands of the Board.

The four organizations that support the “No” option claim they should have two delegates per counting tables. So yesterday afternoon they filed a complaint in the district attorney’s office of Guayas to order an inquiry into the incident that occurred Monday night.

4 670 records have inconsistencies and numerical novelties in the province of Guayas.

Source: Daily El Comercio