In Ecuador, voting is obligatory once one reaches their 18th birthday.
However, once a citizen reaches the age of 65, they are no longer required to vote.
Military and national police are not allowed to vote. I am guessing this has something to do with preventing the politicization of the armed forces... there have been attempted and successful military coups.
If you do not vote, and you were supposed to (legally required to), you cannot leave the country legally, process passport-visa papers, make certain transactions at the banks... etc.
No alcohol will be legally sold in Ecuadorian liquor establishments from today (Friday, the 13th of October) until Monday, the 16th of October, because the elections will be held all Sunday.
The election workers are randomly selected citizens! This process sounds kind of like jury duty in the US. If your name is selected, you must be at your assigned table, at your precinct, in order to manage that table from 7am until 7pm! (as far as training, oversight ect... I have no idea how that part of the process works at this point).
The TSE, ¨Tribunal Supremo Electoral¨ ¨garantees¨(according to their propaganda) democracy. Here is their candidates page link: http://www.tse.gov.ec/Candidatos2006/
Friday, October 13, 2006
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