After the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, used the constitutional tool (“cross death”), the Ecuadorian Electoral Council officially called early presidential and legislative elections for next August 20. The tight times have made the electoral authority rush to be able to carry out the elections in three months (90 days), when it normally took a year to do so. Political parties and movements were also running in a hurry and in search of candidates and some candidates in search of a political party or movement.
Candidacies could register until Tuesday, June 13. On Sunday, August 20, 2023, Ecuadorians will elect a new president and 137 assembly members, who will be in office until May 2025. 13.45 million of Ecuadorian society will be able to vote in the elections. The elections will have special rules, since the Constitution requires that they be held with a planning of just 90 days. For this reason, the National Electoral Council (CNE) approved a regulation that regulates these extraordinary elections. In it, some points are established that will allow the electoral calendar to cover that period, at the same time it establishes all the special conditions that these elections must meet, to save time and money. The candidates who are elected will be sworn in between September and November 2023, and will be in office until May 2025. The electoral roll that will be used in the presidential and legislative elections of August 2023 will be the same as that used in the sectional elections. last February. With this, the CNE manages to reduce the days in the electoral calendar for the closure of the register and the presentation of challenges. In addition, the same passive register will be maintained, which contains those who have not voted in the last four elections. In other words, the people who could not vote in the sectional elections will not be able to do so in the August elections either. The CNE also decided that the same members of boards receiving the vote that were designated for the sectional ones should be maintained. These people would be assigned to the same precincts where they worked last February. In total, 39,892 polling stations will be installed for these elections, in the 4,380 polling stations throughout the country. Those who will not repeat this task are the people appointed as members of the board receiving the vote in the constituencies abroad. In all countries, telematic voting will be applied in this election. There will be no campaigns to change the electoral address. That is, there will not be the possibility of changing the venue. For this reason, the same venues established for the sectional sessions last February will be maintained. This means that Ecuadorians must vote in the same place that was assigned to them in the previous elections. The CNE will implement the polling place consultation system. In total, there will be 4,380 polling stations across the country.
Given that these elections will be considered extraordinary, the percentages of participation of women and youth will not be increased, but those used in the sectional ones will be maintained. These are: The presidential pairings must include a man and a woman, after the TCE ruling. In the list of national assembly members, a man or a woman can head it. In the case of elections for provincial and foreign assembly members, of the total lists that the political organization registers at the national level, 30% will be headed by women. In each of the lists for elections, at least 25% must be young men or women (under 30 years of age). Telematic voting abroad To reduce time in sending electoral material, the CNE ordered that voting abroad is no longer face-to-face but only telematic. In total, 409,250 Ecuadorians registered abroad will be able to use this option for telematic voting.