Ecuadorian National Electoral Council authorities announcing the rejection of the vote recount request on Thursday, April 24, 2025. Photo: CNE Ecuador.
Amid inconsistencies pointing to fraud, the Plenary Session of Ecuador’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has denied the five complaints filed by the Citizen Revolution Alliance alleging irregularities in more than 14,000 tally sheets from the recent 2025 presidential elections, and refused to recount the votes.
The left-wing opposition alliance presented a set of complaints to the CNE on Wednesday, April 23, after identifying 14,823 tally sheets with various inconsistencies. CNE President Diana Atamaint told the media that a recount would not be conducted. The electoral authority’s decisions were made with four votes in favor and one against.
On Thursday morning, Revolución Ciudadana-Reto filed three petitions requesting the annulment of the elections. The CNE decided not to process those neither.
Reto movement auditor Lupe Falconí presented all the tally sheets with alleged inconsistencies to the CNE, which were denied by the body. Falconí noted that the electoral body did not even review all the tally sheets for new information.
🔴 El Pleno del Consejo Nacional Electoral proclamó los resultados de las elecciones generales 2025, esto a pesar de las reclamaciones de actas con irregularidades y solicitudes de nulidad presentadas por la Alianza Revolución Ciudadana – Reto. pic.twitter.com/uQiWIxtgTW
— Elena Rodríguez Yánez (@ElenaDeQuito) April 24, 2025
The representative of Revolución Ciudadana-Reto, Francisco Estarellas, questioned the CNE’s decision and asserted that the tally sheets “do not match those in the system.” He added that they will pursue all relevant efforts to ensure transparency in the elections.
CNE statement
The CNE’s review of the nearly 15,000 tally sheets took place supposedly within hours. Atamaint told the media that they were electronically signed by the National Director of Electoral Processes and also certified, which is why she considered them immutable and authentic.
She added that, in the interest of ensuring transparency, they analyzed 333 tally sheets with alleged numerical inconsistencies based on Article 138 of the Code of Democracy. She explained that 316 tally sheets do not present this problem, bear the signatures of the president and secretary of the Voting Board, and match those submitted by the political organization. According to the official, they do not meet the grounds for invalidation under Article 138.
After rejecting the requests and closing the door to a recount, the electoral authority issued the following election result: Luisa González (Alianza RC-Reto) 44.37%, equivalent to 4,683,260 votes, and Daniel Noboa (ADN) 55.63%, representing 5,870,618 votes.
Report of possible physical fraud by ink transfer
Revolución Ciudadana also published a report on Thursday regarding possible physical fraud through an ink transfer mechanism, which would have systematically affected candidate Luisa González and favored Daniel Noboa.
According to the report, a combination of technical, political, and logistical factors occurred during the election, creating a favorable environment for sophisticated fraud “based on the ballot design, the type of ink used, and control over key electoral materials,” all linked to Noboa’s direct control over the Armed Forces, the CNE, and other key players in the electoral process.
Election manipulation
In previous complaints, Luisa González had warned that voting records were being modified by the CNE once they were uploaded to the system. Estarellas presented this as one of his arguments on Thursday.
Among the inconsistencies, they identified: 1,984 tally sheets without joint signatures from the Voting Board (JRV) authorities, which would violate Article 127 of the Code of Democracy; 1,526 tally sheets whose sum does not match the number of voters; and 1,582 whose result deviates from the average for their respective polling station, which would indicate the possible receipt of additional tally sheets at those JRVs.
In addition, there was an unusual decrease in blank votes, raising concerns about the possible direct manipulation of more than 150,000 votes, and an artificial decrease in absenteeism. González added that most polling stations failed to comply with the protocol requiring the registration of voter turnout.
At the same time, Estarellas pointed out that Noboa did not request authorization to campaign, did not delegate the Vice Presidency to the elected vice president (Verónica Abad), and used millions of dollars in public funds to buy votes.
In addition, he declared a last-minute state of emergency, without any force majeure, notably in provinces where the vote was not in his favor, among other actions that were not censured by the electoral authority.
(Telesur)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
