Want to vote in next year’s local elections? Here are the official rules for foreign residents of Ecuador

Ecuador’s Consejo Nacional Electoral, or CNE, has published the official rules for foreigners living in Ecuador who want to vote in the February 2014 local elections.

Any foreigner 16 years of age or older who has lived in Ecuador for five years or more is eligible to register.

To register, foreigners need to provide an original and a photocopy of thier passport and cedula as well as a copy of their immigrant residency visa which is stamped in their passport.

The five years of residency is counted from the date of issue of one of five residency visas: 9- I (retiree); 9-II Real (estate and securities investors); 9-III (investors in business or industry); 9-IV (technicians under contract, religious workers or foreign journalists); 9-V (professionals with university degrees); and 9-VI (economic dependants of other 9-series visas).

To register to vote, foreigners must go in person to the local CNE office or a mobile change-of-address stations with the original and photocopies of relevant documents.

The following information will be included in voter registration cards: Full name; Nationality and/or country of origin; Place of residence (province, cantón, parrish); Type of visa; Date of birth; Date of issue and expiration of the visa; Cedula number; and Passport number.

The system will generate a print-out, which the applicant and CNE must sign. The applicant should keep one copy of this print-out, for his or her records.

Legal residents who were registered to vote in 2009 or 2013 are already in the voting system but should report any changes of address or other personal information.

For full information about registering to vote, go to www.cne.gob.ec/files/vivianagallardo/Instructivo_para_inscripcin_de_extranjeros.pdf.

Credit: El Telegrafo, www.telegrafo.com.ec