The National Electoral Council (CNE) reported that the average voting time for next February 5 will be six minutes per voterespecially for the answers to the eight questions of the referendum.
Citizens of urban areas will receive seven ballots to choose from mayor, prefect and vice-prefect, councilors, members of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS) and the responses to the referendum. Those in rural areas will have one more, in order to designate the members of the parish councils.
The forms of voting are varied. In the case of the referendum, one of the two options (yes or no) is chosen by placing a mark in the preference box. Pointing to both cancels the vote.
The referendum will be a thermometer of the popularity of the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, who posed the questions. If the yes wins, it would be a boost to his management.
This last option has implications, such as the execution of a series of constitutional and legal reforms detailed in the annexes to the questions.
One recommendation is read in advance the referendum questions and their annexes to know the reforms that must be made in case of winning one of the options and go to the polls with a firm decision, which would reduce the time to vote.
This Journal publishes in a PDF file the ballot that voters will receive with the eight questions and the annexes that citizens must answer in this hyperlink
Carlos Aguiñaga, former president of the former Supreme Electoral Tribunal, says —based on surveys— that, a few days before the election, More than 50% of the citizenry has not yet decided who to vote for or how to exercise the election.
Another group -Add- It has already partially decided for dignities such as mayors and prefects, but not yet in the case of councilors or members of the CPCCS, with applicants who are unknown. “There is a lack of a more sustained campaign of education, training and civic education on radio, press and television. It’s not just about making a chain. A more massive explanation of how to exercise suffrage is missing.
The consequence would be that the invalid vote can be very high, even unconsciously, indicates Aguiñaga. “The citizen goes unknowingly to choose certain dignities; this shores to select options that decided a few. There comes a problem of dissatisfaction with the elections and politics”.
There are several modalities in these elections —he adds—, such as multi-person list (when each list has three candidates for councilors or more), individual multi-person (ballot of men and women of the CPCCS) and one-person (mayors, prefects and the representative of the towns in the CPCCS).
This is an atypical process due to the number of ballots and forms of voting and candidacies. “This division into urban and rural districts (districts) generates an effect in which, through the decision, I favor certain political organizations,” says Aguiñaga. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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