Ecuador Begins Delivery of Electoral Material for Run-off

The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Ecuador began Thursday the nationwide distribution of the 2,413 electoral packages to be used in the second round of the early presidential elections scheduled for next October 15.

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The distribution of the packages began from the integrating company Montgar, in the city of Quito, to the 24 provincial electoral delegations with rigorous military guard, the CNE informed in a statement.

The CNE pointed out that "each package contains ballots and electoral documents, ballot boxes, pens, markers, adhesive tape, pads and finger wax, stamp, LED flashlight, calculator, security elements, electoral envelopes, among others".

According to the electoral entity's schedule, the distribution of the packages will conclude next October 14 in the province of Pichincha (center-north), where the city of Quito is located.

The tweet reads, "The distribution of Electoral Packets for the Second Round begins in the national territory."

Ecuador is in electoral campaign since last September 24 with a view to the second presidential round. A little more than 13.4 million Ecuadorians, inside and outside the country, are called to choose their new president between the candidates Luisa Gonzalez, a supporter of leftist former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), and businessman Daniel Noboa.

Gonzalez, 45, candidate of the Citizen Revolution movement, won more than 33 percent of the vote in the first round on August 20, followed by Noboa, candidate of the National Democratic Action alliance, who won more than 23 percent.

The tweet reads, "With a view to the voting day of the Second Round, this September 28 we carried out the Technical Test of the Computer System for Canvassing and Results #SIER nationwide. This test verifies the processing of minutes and presentation of results, operation and connections of the Electoral Processing Centers, and other technical aspects."

The candidate who wins in the second round will succeed President Guillermo Lasso and will be in office until May 2025, when the current term was due to end.

Lasso shortened his presidential term (2021-2025), after last May 17 he applied in an unprecedented manner the constitutional figure of "cross death," with which he dissolved the Congress and called for early elections, in the middle of a political crisis.