The role of the Election Coordinators should be reinforced and their numbers increased to strengthen/improve election preparations at polling station level. Furthermore, their role as a bridge between the Provincial Election Commissions and the Polling Station Committees should be defined and strengthened.

The Election Commission and the Electoral Tribunal should create mechanisms to ensure that there is a clear information flow from the national to lower level of election administration and vice versa.

The Electoral Commissions should ensure that all appointed polling station committee members receive appropriate and quality training. Sufficiently in advance of the Election Day, training should pay special attention to counting procedures and to procedures to fill in the election protocols. For this purpose, a permanent pool of qualified electoral trainers should be established.

The number of polling stations should be diminished, except when serving remote or isolated populations, thus reducing the number of polling station committee members needed. Simplified voting procedures and adequate training for all polling station committee members would make it possible for polling station committees to process a larger number of electors. In this regard, the maximum number of electors per polling station should be increased to 500, in accordance to article 36 of the Election Law.

The space provided to the polling station should increase and its perimeter should be clearly marked in order to avoid confusion and overcrowding on Election Day and secure the secrecy of the vote.

The time span between the cut-off date and the Election Day should be shortened in order for voters to be able to make changes and updates closer to E-Day.

After the verification period the TSE should undertake the necessary corrections and again display the voter register at cantonal or parish levels at least 15 days before the Election Day.

The Civil Registry should be improved in order to fulfil its role and to ensure that all citizens are registered and provided with ID Cards, which is essential to the full registration of Ecuadorian citizens with voting rights. More mobile teams should be used to register Ecuadorians living in remote and less accessible areas.

The legal requirement for political parties to win at least 5% of the valid vote in two consecutive national elections in order to maintain their registration should be eliminated.

Appropriate timelines for the disqualification of candidates should be outlined in the electoral legal framework.

As already recommended in the 2002 EOM mission report, a simplification and harmonization of the Ecuadorian electoral system (which includes open list system with panachage or preferential vote for candidates from different lists and, for the CA elections, had three different mechanisms of seat allocation) would be useful to enable voters to understand the system. The high number of invalid ballots indicates that the current systems may be too complex for many voters. A simplified system would also help reducing the number of human errors that took place in the counting process. And to adopt the same method to allocate seats in the same election is a means to ensure the “equality of chances”, regardless of constituencies, as international standards require.

The system of vote consolidation, if it will still be needed234, must be changed in order to be in line with the international standards; namely it must not damage the equality of voting rights and the equality of voting power for all voters. In this regard, the exact average weight factor, as stipulated in the Election Law, should be repealed. The following principles should guide the review of the vote consolidation system: (i) if a ballot with one vote “en plancha” is worth “1”, the sum of the individual weight attributed to nominal votes cast in each ballot can never exceed that value of “1”; the nominal votes can either have (ii) a fixed value equivalent to the fraction corresponding to as many candidates to be elected in a given constituency, or (iii) a variable value where the total weight of nominal votes really marked by a given elector in his/her ballot paper always amounts to “1”.

The number of seats allocated to overseas constituencies and the respective delineation should be revised and adapted to the real number of out-of-country electors, bringing them closer to the national average.

The Election Administration should ensure that the required number of properly trained polling station committee members is present in polling stations throughout the Election Day. Previously trained polling station committee members substitutes should not be released from their obligations if there is no need for a replacement during the opening of the polling. On the contrary, they can be used as fresh staff during the counting.

Each member of the polling station committee should have a clearly defined role in order to ensure a cross checking mechanism. At least two members should be involved in the process of counting the ballots, while at least two members should fill in each of the tally sheets.

La publication des résultats doit se faire de façon détaillée par bureau de vote dans des délais qui permettent de former utilement un recours éventuel sur la base des informations détaillées 75 Mission d’observation électorale de l’Union européenne en Mauritanie ainsi mises à la disposition des candidats. Une telle exigence de publication doit être prévue par la loi. Les moyens informatiques devraient être pleinement exploités pour accroître la transparence dans ce domaine. Il convient également qu’une valeur probante soit reconnue aux extraits des procès-verbaux de résultats pour rendre possible leur confrontation éventuelle avec les originaux en cas de contentieux.

Il est souhaitable de procéder à la libéralisation des ondes en supprimant le monopole légal dont bénéficient la radio et la télévision nationales, conformément aux engagements pris à l’égard de l’Union européenne le 30 novembre 2005 au terme des consultations ouvertes dans le cadre de l’accord de Cotonou. Une telle libéralisation doit contribuer à faciliter l’accès des candidats aux médias, à enrichir le débat d’idées et à renforcer la sensibilisation des électeurs.

Il faut favoriser toutes les initiatives de nature à susciter de véritables débats publics entre les candidats autour de programmes et d’idées afin de dépasser le caractère purement festif ou mercantile des campagnes électorales. De telles initiatives devraient notamment voir le jour dans les médias audiovisuels publics qui devraient se montrer plus actifs dans ce domaine.

La MOE pense qu’il serait opportun d’engager rapidement une réflexion sur la possibilité de conserver les acquis importants de la CENI et de lui donner une forme permanente. La CENI pourrait ainsi intensifier ses activités en matière de sensibilisation et de supervision. Elle pourrait également se voir attribuer de nouvelles compétences (proposition de codification du droit électoral, mise à jour du fichier électoral, éducation civique permanente).

The NEC’s institutional capacity and independence needs to be further strengthened to enable its staff to fulfil the tasks included in its mandate. The NEC should continue to pursue its policy of transparency and dialogue with political parties and other stakeholders.

A clear separation of roles between the Commissioners and Executive of the NEC should be established. The Executive should be allowed to freely undertake the day-today management tasks of the NEC whilst remaining accountable to the Commissioners through a well developed reporting structure.

The integrity of the election process should be strengthened through an improved selection of constituency election monitors and ad hoc polling staff for future elections. Timely and comprehensive training for all election staff members should be provided.

An accurate list of polling stations, including locations and the number of registered voters, should be made available to political parties and observers and the public in a timely manner.

Polling procedures should be published in a timely fashion well in advance of election day to provide sufficient time for voter education activities and training of polling staff, party agents and domestic observers.

In an attempt to prevent or detect ballot stuffing voters could be requested to fingerprint or countersign their names in the voter’s list after receiving the ballot paper(s). No measure should compromise the secrecy of the vote.