Ecuador to invite observers for February polls

Ecuador's National Electoral Council (CNE) and Foreign Ministry are to invite 320 foreign observers to watch general elections scheduled for 17 February, these including journalists, politicians and relevant experts, Ecuador's Andes agency reported on 29 January. One of these was to be Ignacio Ramonet, a former editor of the review Le Monde diplomatique. Others were to represent regional groupings such as the Organization of American States, the Andean Parliament and the Arab League. The head of the CNE José Domingo Paredes Castillo said the observers would go to half the country's provinces, at the state's expense. "Democracy costs money and ensuring the transparency of what we are doing costs money and it is worth it," he said. A poll taken on 10 January by the local firm Market and published by the government daily El Ciudadano indicated the sitting president and candidate Rafael Correa to be 30 points ahead of his next rival Guillermo Lasso Mendoza, a banker heading the CREO campaign (Movimiento Creando Oportunidades). Forty nine per cent of 760 citizens from two provinces told the pollster they intended to vote for Correa, and 18 per cent for Lasso; the poll indicated Correa's PAIS coalition could win two thirds of seats in the 137-member parliament, El Ciudadano reported on 17 January. The election campaign began on 4 January and would last to 14 February.