Thousands of Ecuadorians vote in Spain for their new president with total normality

Thousands of Ecuadorians vote this Sunday in Spain with absolute normality to elect the next president of their country, in elections marked by anti-virus security measures, which are being strictly observed.

From early in the morning, orderly lines of citizens access the voting premises that were enabled in Spain, a total of 19, throughout the entire geography, although where there are more registered is in Madrid (66,790) and Barcelona ( 33,338), as well as in the province of Murcia, where you can vote in three localities and there are a total of 29,209 people.

In total, in Spain 179,614 people are registered to vote today, which means that the vote of Ecuadorians in this country represents 43% of the total vote abroad

From the embassy they calculate that abstention will be between 60 and 70%, as it has been historically, taking into account that voting abroad, recognized in the Ecuadorian Constitution of 2008, is optional, while in the national territory it is required.

“The electoral process is developing without any incidence,” the Ecuadorian ambassador in Madrid, Cristóbal Roldán, told Efe today from the electoral precinct set up in Madrid.

That same normality of the capital extends to all of Spain, as reported to the ambassador by all the consuls accredited in the different Spanish cities. “Everything is developing in terms of absolute normality, we have no incidence to report,” concluded Roldán.

In Barcelona, ​​from the early hours of the morning, hundreds of Ecuadorians took turns at the gates of the precinct where they vote, all wearing their masks and keeping the safety distances marked by the COVID-19 epidemic.

Also in the region of Murcia (southeast), where there is a large community of Ecuadorians working in agriculture, voting proceeds normally and with a significant influx.

Long lines of Ecuadorians waited for more than an hour before the start of the elections for the electoral precinct to open in the city of Murcia.

The consul general of Ecuador in the region, Miguel Ángel Macías, attributed this Sunday the greater participation of the population to the great roots that bind them to their country, despite the fact that in many cases they are second generations of Ecuadorians, and the responsibility they feel migrants for participating in the future of Ecuador through the ballot box.

Sanitary regulations such as the mandatory use of masks and gels are strictly observed in polling places throughout Spain, keeping the safety distance and, in addition, their temperature is taken when entering the precincts.
Likewise, in all of them there are people who guide voters where to go, to avoid crowds and what they must do to cast their vote.

Voting precincts are open in Spain from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (7 a.m. to 5 p.m. GMT).

Voting in this second round is easier for the voter by having to choose between only two candidates, that of the progressive Andrés Araúz (political heir to Rafael Correa), who won the first round on February 7, and that of the center-right candidate Guillermo Lasso, while last February they voted the first round of the presidential elections and the members of the National Assembly.