VZCZCXYZ0004
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #2536 2892207
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 162207Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5484
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 6084
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 2096
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ OCT 0154
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA PRIORITY 1057
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS QUITO 002536 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
PLEASE PASS ALSO TO USOAS AND USAID/LAC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV EC
SUBJECT: ELECTION AFTERMATH: QUICK COUNT FOUNDERS AT 70%; 
SLOW COUNT COMMENCES 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) on 
October 16 unilaterally cancelled its $5.8 million quick 
count contract with Brazilian firm E-Vote after the firm 
failed to deliver results on time on election night.  As a 
result, official results must await until after more 
labor-intensive vote certification and reporting are 
completed by the provincial election councils--which could 
take more than a week.  Although results are not likely to 
vary much from the initial results, uncertainty generated by 
technical difficulties has fueled protests and claims of 
fraud from second place finisher, Rafael Correa.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) E-Vote had promised presidential results would be 
reported to the central TSE and the public by 7:30 pm on 
October 15 and congressional results would be tabulated by 
midnight.  The firm's system crashed on the morning after 
elections with only 70% of presidential results reported and 
little or none of the congressional results tabulated.  While 
press earlier reported E-Vote executives had left the 
country, E-Vote country representative Santiago Murray issued 
a statement admitting the slowness of the quick count, 
denying any breach of contract and confirming E-Vote will 
remain in Ecuador.  Several political parties have called for 
the arrest of E-Vote executives.  (Note: Votes were manually 
counted in each of the more than 36,000 polling places by 
poll workers under TSE supervision; E-Vote was responsible 
for electronically delivering and compiling those results 
centrally.  Those manual counts took place and are being sent 
to provincial TSE authorities; what fell short was the quick 
central tallying and reporting.  End Note.)  The TSE stopped 
payment of the remaining $2.9 million of the E-Vote contract, 
and hope to recover some information (not ballots) about the 
vote from the E-Vote executives. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) TSE officials tell us they are confident of their 
ability to do their own count of the votes within a week 
after election-day.  That count has been ongoing since late 
on October 15, and is taking place in each of the provincial 
electoral commissions.  Smaller provinces traditionally 
report results faster than the largest provinces.  A TSE 
board member told the press that 3% of the results were 
reported on the morning of October 16, and predicted that 
count would rise to 50% by the end of the day. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Jose Teran, the TSE's International Affairs Chief, 
admitted to us the E-Vote debacle represented a severe blow 
to the TSE's credibility, especially since many candidates, 
congressional deputies and the media were criticizing the 
costly contract in the days before the election.  He also 
said E-Vote's failure is much worse than the problems in the 
last two elections.  In 2004, Spanish firm Indra contracted 
to complete a quick count.  While results came in slower than 
promised, the firm eventually completed the job. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Ecuador radical leftist radio station La Luna is 
inviting listeners to protest against these developments in 
front of the well-protected TSE building; about 400 
protesters have gathered.  The OAS has convoked a meeting of 
member states to discuss this latest setback later on October 
16, which we will attend.  We have urged the TSE to reassure 
the public that all ballots are physically secure and that 
the absconding E-Vote executives did not get away with 
election materials. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Comment:  New uncertainty over the official vote 
count will likely be seized on by Correa to challenge 
results.  It remains to be seen whether Correa and his 
supporters will be successful in sowing doubt among the 
public.  Although all exit polls and quick counts reported 
thus far have had the same results, it will be hard but not 
impossible for public opinion to be swayed.  To prevent this, 
we will continue to urge maximum transparency from the TSE. 
JEWELL