González election challenge prevents CNE from releasing a final vote count until review is completed

Although all votes have been counted from the April 13 presidential runoff, a challenge by the campaign of Luisa González and the Citizens Revolution party are preventing the National Electoral Council (CNE) from declaring the results official.

Citizens Revolution attorney Francisco Estarellas presented four complaints to the CNE Monday, alleging “irregularities and inconsistencies” in 1,729 vote tally sheets.

Under the law, all election challenges must be analyzed by CNE and an independent legal team to determine if further investigation is warranted, according to CNE President Diana Atamaint. “The results cannot be considered official until this process is complete,” she says.

According to Estarellas, 343 vote tally sheets show a “lack of coincidence” of two required signatures; 171 sheets lack even one signature; 780 sheets lack the signature of the CNE secretary; and 435 sheets have “numerical inconsistencies.”

The CNE reports that a total of 41,544 tally sheets were collected following the election.

“The errors we have highlighted require investigation since they are likely an indication that fraud was committed,” says Estarellas, adding that the errors may “only be the tip of the iceberg.”

Following the election, González and former president Rafael Correa clamed a “mega-fraud” was committed to prevent a González victory. Correa claimed that the CNE was under orders from President Daniel Noboa to “rig” the election in Noboa’s favor.

With 100% of votes counted, the CNE reports that Daniel Noboa was reelected with 55.63%, (5,870,618) of the votes while González had 44.37% (4,683,260) of votes. The “null” and blank votes totaled 6.7%.

In addition to the internal CNE review process, Estarellas is demanding that all ballot boxes be opened for review by Citizens Revolution representatives, a request that, according to CNE, can only be granted if an investigation indicates that vote tampering has occurred.

The CNE review process is expected to be complete by Thursday.