In the midst of a climate of insecurity and political and social uncertainty, Ecuador finally reaches its 2023 elections.
The elections will take place this Sunday, August 20, and will be early presidential and legislative elections (in addition to the fact that citizens will vote in popular consultations).
These are early elections because, last May, the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, dissolved the National Assembly by signing the so-called “cross death” after Congress approved taking him to impeachment.
When could the electoral authority of Ecuador approve the candidacy of Christian Zurita to replace Fernando Villavicencio?
This movement, protected by the Constitution, allows the Executive and Legislative branches to have the power to dissolve only once in the first three years of the presidential administration, and therefore early elections must be called.
As early voting approaches, here are the details you need to know before going to the polls.
Where do I vote in the Ecuador 2023 elections?
To be able to vote this Sunday, August 20, you must be registered in the country’s electoral registry.
Therefore, what you need is to check that you are registered. You can do this on the following website of the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Ecuador: https://app02.cne.gob.ec/consultaregistroelectoral/
And, to find out where your turn to vote, you won’t have to do another extra step: when you check your registration on the website above, you will also be given the information of the polling place where it is your turn to go.
To consult the information on this website, all you need is your identity card and your date of birth.
This is what the website looks like where you can check your voter registration and your polling place. (Credit: CNE)
This is what the website looks like where you can check your voter registration and your polling place. (Credit: CNE)
If you are not able to check your polling place online, there is also the option of doing it by phone.
You only need to call the number 02-3815-841 and enter one of the following extensions:
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You can make this consultation by phone between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Sunday.
Likewise, the consultation of your polling place is also available in the CNE APP mobile app, which is enabled for Android and iOS operating systems.
How to vote? Documents you need and the mark on the ballot paper
According to the CNE, when you arrive at your polling place, you must identify yourself with one of the following documents in order to vote:
Original document of your identity card
Passport
consular identity document
Once you are identified with any of those documents, you will be given four or five ballots:
A light brown one for the presidential ballot
A home for national assembly members
Another light blue for provincial assembly members
Green for the Yasuní popular consultation
And, only in the Quito canton, a pink-purple ballot for the popular consultation of the Chocó Andino
To vote on these ballots, you just have to mark the option for which you want to vote. If you mark more than one option or mark the entire ballot, the vote will be considered invalid.
In this video you can review how to vote correctly:
What are the voting hours?
The CNE details that the schedule to vote this August 20 is 10 consecutive hours within Ecuador: from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Meanwhile, for voting abroad, the hours will be from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. (local time of the country in which you are).
And to all this, how do I vote abroad?
For Ecuadorians living in another country, the CNE has the option of telematic voting, which is done via the Internet.
However, in order to exercise your vote online, you must first register. You can do it at https://inscripcion.voto-telematico.app/registro and you will be asked:
Your identity card or passport number
Answer security questions to validate your information
And register your email and phone number
You will have until August 20 (that is, until the day of the election) to register.
Once registered, you will be able to vote from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on the website https://www.voto-telematico.cne.gob.ec/. Look here the step by step to vote on August 20 online:
