The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Ecuador has approved all eight binomials registered to participate in the upcoming early presidential elections scheduled for August 20, confirmed Diana Atamaint, the president of the organization, on June 21.
The last two approved by the CNE were Luisa González and Andrés Arauz from the Citizen’s Revolution (RC) movement, led by former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), and Fernando Villavivencio and Andrea González from the Construye movement.
Atamaint stated on Ecuador TV that “the plenary [of the CNE] approved the registration of the two remaining binomials after making the necessary corrections.”
With this approval, all eight binomials have completed their documentation correctly, and the electoral body has granted their registration.
However, Atamaint clarified that the 72-hour deadline for filing challenges against the candidates must be respected.
Once the contestation stage is over, the CNE will proceed with the official registration of the candidates unless challenges have been filed against them.
In such cases, the electoral body’s plenary will review the challenges and respond accordingly.
Earlier, the CNE rejected challenges to the presidential candidacies of Xavier Hervas from the RETO movement and former Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo, who will be seeking a seat in the National Assembly.
The challenges were filed by the RC movement, alleging that Hervas had assets in tax havens, which is prohibited by law, and that Carrillo had been censured in a political trial in March, disqualifying him from holding public office for two years under current legislation.
Over 13 million Ecuadorians are called to the polls after President Guillermo Lasso activated the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly amid an impeachment trial against him for alleged embezzlement in a state-owned company contract, leading to the decision to hold early elections.