PROYECTO FORTALECIMIENTO DEL MANEJO ELECTORAL

This task was developed in three working spaces: one with electoral organizations (Consejo Nacional Electoral and Tribunal Contencioso Electoral), another with a group of civil society organizations with specific needs related to political participation and election logistics, and a third with various civil society groups that made proposals from the perspective of citizen participation and the demands of specific sectors, such as women, indigenous peoples, Afro-Ecuadorians, and Montubios. The work in each of these spaces was reflected in separate projects of legislative reform that collected discussions, points of view, and proposals from the various actors involved. However, it is not necessary to maintain this separation, given the differences in approaches and concerns of the three participating groups, in order to achieve a unified proposal that can be expressed in a true legislative reform. The present document aims to unify these efforts and consolidate the three projects into a single body, resulting in a unified project of reform to the Organic Electoral Law that incorporates and harmonizes the proposals of electoral organizations and various sectors of civil society. This unified project is presented in the second part of this work, and here we will briefly explain the content of each proposal to show how the analysis of compatibility between them was carried out and the unified proposal was obtained. The project of the electoral organizations is the most extensive of the three and covers the largest number of topics. These can be grouped into four main areas: (1) the mechanics of elections, which involves correcting errors and eliminating vacuities in the original text of the Law; (2) the functioning of electoral organizations and their competences, which are to be defined and clarified; (3) the integration of candidate lists in pluripersonal elections and the most suitable system for allocating seats to winning candidates; and (4) procedural and sanctioning aspects, including the regulation of financing and expenditure in elections and the establishment of a clear procedure for imposing sanctions and defending those who are accused of infractions. The project of persons with disabilities focuses on two main areas: (1) the logistics of the electoral process and the facilitation of voting for persons with disabilities, and (2) measures to promote the participation of persons with disabilities in electoral organizations, political parties, and movements, as well as in the formation of candidate lists. The project of other civil society organizations addresses four fundamental themes: (1) interculturalism and plurinationality, which involves establishing differentiated treatments to promote the participation of traditionally marginalized sectors (indigenous peoples, Afro-Ecuadorians, and Montubios); (2) the assignment of seats in pluripersonal elections, which proposes a clear and transparent system that allows voters to know the value of their vote and how to support their preferred candidates; (3) financing and expenditure in elections, which aims to solve problems that have arisen in this area; and (4) the correction of the most serious deficiencies in the regulation of sanctions, including the elimination of declarative texts and the incorporation of new infractions. The analysis of compatibility between the three projects has shown that, despite their different approaches and concerns, they share common spaces and areas of convergence. In fact, the topics of electoral logistics, inclusion of marginalized groups, and the assignment of seats in pluripersonal elections are common to all three projects. Additionally, at least two of the projects (the first and the third) aim to solve the same group of problems (assignment of seats, financing and expenditure, and sanctions). The following table shows the common spaces in which the three projects converge: | Theme | Project 1 | Project 2 | Project 3 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Mechanics of elections | | | | | Electoral organizations | | | | | Integration of lists and assignment of seats | | | | | Procedure and sanctions | | | | | Treatment of marginalized groups | | | | | Financing and expenditure | | | | The existence of common spaces does not necessarily mean contradictory proposals. The analysis of the texts has shown that, in most cases, when the projects refer to the same themes or address them in the same way, their proposals are complementary or add content without contradicting each other. However, there were two themes that required special attention. The first was related to the regulations on procedure and sanctions, where it was necessary to opt for a more developed proposal. The second was the regulation of sanctions, which was addressed by the project of various civil society organizations, which proposed introducing certain improvements to the existing text without making radical changes. The unified project of reform to the Organic Electoral Law aims to incorporate and harmonize the proposals of electoral organizations and various sectors of civil society, resulting in a single, unified proposal that can be expressed in a true legislative reform. This project is presented in the second part of this work, and it is the result of