Protesters demand the return of Ricaurte-Baños bus route; Covid rules complicate overseas voting; When will election results be announced? Art Bienal plans

Jueves, 4/2/2021

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
More nada.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Votación en el exterior, en riesgo (Voting abroad, at risk) – Covid restrictions on movement are changing world wide, and it will only be known on voting day how many of the 410,000 Ecuadorian voters living overseas will be unable to vote. The number of voters abroad has increased and there is a shortage of Juntas Receptoras del Voto (JRV – Vote Receiving Boards – poll workers). There should be a minimum of 3 workers at each polling place, but in Europe, Asia and Ocean, only 1661 (62%) of the 2690 needed have volunteered. In the US and Canada, only 589 (43%) of the 1355 invited to participate accepted. The numbers are better in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa with 316 (87%) of the 365 positions filled. Causes are fear of participating in a crowded event and difficulty in getting around. Another problem is the maximum capacity of some voting sites is less than the number of poll workers needed. Some examples include Lausanne where the capacity is 5 with 1366 voters. In Stockholm, the capacity is 8 with 688 voters. In Chicago the numbers are 50 and 7930; in London – 80 and 6450; and in Connecticut – 100 and 10,859. Elections cannot be held in other countries such as Panamá where there is a weekend curfew.

More than 100 gathered Thursday morning in Parque Calderon to protest the elimination of bus line 100. (El Mercurio)

Resulatados provisionales a las 20:00 (Provisional results at 20:00) – The CNE will broadcast the election results between 19:30 and 20:00 on domingo based on the rapid count. At the same time, it will start to announce the official results coming in fom the JRV. Although there are 3 businesses authorized to conduct exit polls, these will not be official results. <I wonder if any of the candidates are going to claim the election was stolen from them.>

Con plantón exigen retorno de línea 100 (Return of 100 line demanded in protest) – Representatives and residents of Ricaurte and Baños which are at the north and south ends of Cuenca, and of Machángara, protested to maintain service on bus line 100. The president of the Asociación de Barrios de Ricaurte said that retiring the 100 line was done without notification or consultation with the users, many of whom need to travel with baskets of goods for sale or with their work tools which are prohibited on the tram. For some barrios in Machángara, residents have no bus service and need to walk to a line that drops them off at the tram stop which increases their costs of transportation. <That sure doesn’t sound like an intregrated transportation system that works for those who need it.>

Tres ejes tendrá la Vienal de Cuenca (The Cuenca Biennial will have three axes) – The Fundación Municipal Bienal de Cuenca officially presented the 15th edition of the event with curator Blanca de la Gorre García, from Spain. The name of this Biennial is “Bioceno. Cambiar el verde por azul.” (Biocene. Change green to blue) <Biocene – our word for the day. I had to Google the English word – something New Agey beyond evolution, to do with future development with AI and living systems. It’s also the title of a paperback book that costs $150.00.> She is currently reviewing national submissions, and called for international submissions through a direct convocation.

And that´s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne
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Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper (please don’t ask her for them). The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.