Ecuador: Authorities Ratify February 7 as Election Day

Ecuador's Electoral Branch authorities ratified the electoral calendar for the general elections to be held in February next year.

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National Electoral Council (CNE) President Diana Atamaint and Electoral Contentious Tribunal (TCE) President Arturo Cabrera pointed out that the 2021 elections cannot be postponed in view of ensuring the country's democratic stability.

The NEC and the TCE maintained a dispute over the registration of candidates from the Social Justice (JS) Movement, which has caused a delay in the publication of the final list of presidential candidates.

Political organizations' campaigns for the elections will begin on Dec. 31 and will end on Feb. 4 next year. On January 7, the final lists of candidates who will contest the elections will be published. 

Since the entry into force of a new Constitution in 2008, the Electoral Branch is composed of an administrative organism (CNE) and a jurisdictional organ (TCE).

On Dec. 8, the TCE ordered the CNE to guarantee a reasonable timeline and adequate means so Social Justice candidates could hold primary elections and be inscribed. The CNE presented a claim against the resolution before the Constitutional Court that ruled out the complaint. 

A total of 13,099,150 Ecuadorians are eligible to cast their votes in the first round of the elections to take place on February.