00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - We go live to Ecuador.
00:10 Electoral authorities are providing a briefing
00:12 before the beginning of the vote counting process.
00:15 (speaking in foreign language)
00:20 (speaking in foreign language)
00:24 - Thank you, Mayor President, for coming here
00:40 and continue with the process.
00:42 (speaking in foreign language)
00:46 (speaking in foreign language)
00:50 - We have here over 1,000 military officers
00:57 to provide security for our borders
01:03 and the rest of the staff.
01:05 (speaking in foreign language)
01:11 We would also like to thank the rest of the staff
01:16 who is here supporting the elections,
01:19 realizing, taking into account the activities
01:24 that they perform and the vote counting
01:27 and the whole process.
01:28 (speaking in foreign language)
01:32 - Right now we are here witnessing the report
01:57 of the information system,
01:59 (speaking in foreign language)
02:03 which is now reporting zero votes
02:06 from each voting candidate.
02:10 (speaking in foreign language)
02:17, thank you.
02:18 (speaking in foreign language)
02:22 (beeping)
02:24 (speaking in foreign language)
02:28 (beeping)
02:30 (beeping)
02:33 (beeping)
02:35 (beeping)
02:37 (beeping)
03:05 - We are seeing the images from the seat
03:07 of Ecuador's National Electoral Council,
03:11 as they have been giving a briefing,
03:12 a short briefing of how everything is ready
03:15 to start a vote counting process once the polls close.
03:18 They were showing documents demonstrating
03:20 that all the tallies are in zero,
03:21 so no vote has been counted,
03:23 but showing the transparency and the legitimacy
03:26 of this process that is due to start very shortly.
03:28 Ecuador's election day has been fairly calm,
03:33 despite the tense path towards this election day,
03:37 with an insecurity crisis that saw the murder
03:39 of one of the candidates.
03:41 Police and military officials have been out
03:43 on the streets in force during the day
03:45 to ensure the safety of the voters and everyone involved,
03:50 and that the process is carried out normally,
03:53 as it has occurred.
03:54 There were issues during the day.
03:56 People from abroad, Ecuadorians living outside
03:59 of the country, have been reporting
04:01 that they have been able to vote from where they're living,
04:05 especially from the US and Europe.
04:07 The president of the Ecuador's National Electoral Council,
04:12 in her latest briefing, said that these issues
04:17 have been seen and that they will be continuing
04:19 monitoring the situation to ensure
04:21 that the voting takes place normally.
04:23 Today's election comes early.
04:29 Guillermo Lasso put in effect something
04:33 that the constitution allows,
04:35 something called the cross death, la muerte cruzada.
04:38 He was experiencing an impeachment process,
04:41 and during this, before he was impeached,
04:44 he called on this law of the country's constitution
04:48 that dissolved the government and calls
04:50 for these early elections that are being held today.
04:53 We're seeing the process of--
04:59 all the signings of the pertinent documents to begin,
05:02 to continue with these general elections
05:05 that are held today in Ecuador.
05:07 In the latest report given by the Electoral Council,
05:11 over 50% of the electoral roll had participated
05:16 in today's voting day.
05:18 Authorities have said that Ecuadorian families
05:25 decided to come out early,
05:27 all because of this insecurity crisis
05:29 that the country is experiencing,
05:32 to come out early and carry out their constitutional right
05:35 to elect their authorities.
05:36 The government attributes this insecurity crisis
05:41 to drug trafficking cartels that are fighting for power
05:45 over the routes of these illegal drugs.
05:49 (speaking in foreign language)
05:52 Critics have blamed the sharply rising violence
06:03 on drug traffickers, as we were saying,
06:05 and Ecuador's own employment walls
06:06 and the country's recent insecurity was on display,
06:10 as we mentioned last week, when Villavicencio,
06:12 a former investigative journalist and lawmaker,
06:15 was gunned down while leading a campaign event.
06:17 He was one of the candidates for the presidency,
06:20 but was murdered on one of his campaign events,
06:23 showing the insecurity crisis that the country is facing.
06:27 Homicides have more than tripled in the capital, Quito,
06:31 over the past three years,
06:32 and the coastal cities of Guayaquil and Esmeraldas
06:35 have been ranked among the region's most dangerous.
06:38 Deadly prison riots have also broken out on a regular basis,
06:42 and presidential candidates who have beefed up protections
06:45 and kept their schedules limited
06:47 since Villavicencio's assassination
06:49 made combating crime a central theme
06:51 in their final campaign stops.
06:53 (speaking in foreign language)
06:57 We invite you to keep up with this process.
07:07 You can also see the results live
07:10 from the Borne County on our website.
07:12 (dramatic music)
07:15 (dramatic music)
07:17 We're watching live images from the headquarter
07:27 of the Electoral Council in Ecuador
07:29 as they were all getting ready
07:30 for the process of vote counting.
07:32 They will show their legitimacy and transparency
07:34 by showing that all the tallies are at zero,
07:36 so no vote has gone in,
07:38 so everything will start from scratch.
07:40 And we will continue providing updates
07:43 as the electoral authorities provide them live
07:45 here at Televisor English,
07:46 so stay tuned with us for upcoming news brief
07:48 and for more news on this and other topics.
07:50 (upbeat music)
