QUITO, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ecuador is ready to go to the polls on Sunday to elect a successor to President Lenin Moreno and legislative members of the National Assembly (Congress) amid the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced.
“We are ready to go to the polls on Sunday, February 7,” said Diana Atamaint, the president of the CNE, adding that the CNE’s role is to ensure “the electoral process will take place with security guarantees so the people go to vote and those who are elected have the legitimacy the people are going to give them.”
Speaking at a joint press conference with authorities in charge of security and logistics, the official invited the public to vote safely, saying protective measures will be in force at voting stations to prevent possible transmission of coronavirus.
According to the experience of other countries that have organized elections during the pandemic, infections don’t increase where there is proper organization and regulation, she said.
Electoral absenteeism may increase among vulnerable older persons who are wary of going to the polls, said Atamaint. In Ecuador, electoral absenteeism rate has historically averaged around 25.6%.
Just over 13 million Ecuadorians are eligible to vote in the general elections for a president, vice president, 137 members of the National Assembly and five representatives to the regional Andean Parliament.
Preliminary results of a quick count by the CNE of votes cast for president will be announced between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Atamaint said.
f no candidate wins the election in Sunday’s first round after failing to secure over 40% of the votes or garner 10% more of the votes won by the closest rival, there will be a second round on April 11 between the two frontrunners.
Successor’s inauguration ceremony will take place on May 24.
The polls will be held amid the coronavirus pandemic. Ecuador has registered nearly 255,000 COVID-19 cases and about 15,000 fatalities, according to a running tally of the US-based Johns Hopkins University.
According to the latest pre-election polls, the top three presidential candidates are Andres Arauz Galarza from the left-leaning Union for Hope (UNES) coalition, Guillermo Lasso Mendoza from the right-wing CREO-PSC Alliance and Yaku Perez Guartambel from the left-leaning Pachakutik party.
Arauz, 35, served as minister and Central Bank director during Correa era, and he stated that Correa will be one of his advisors if he becomes president.
Seeking the presidency for the third time, Lasso, a 65-year-old businessman, served as former economy minister and aims to create one million jobs and implement universal health care if he assumes the post.
Former governor Perez, 51, positions himself against the policies of Correa, known as correismo.
Ecuador’s general elections will be monitored by 2,540 national electoral observers and some 260 international observers, according to the National Electoral Council.
