E-Voting Follies: Count failure mires Ecuador election

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Count failure mires Ecuador election


Tuesday 17 October 2006, 12:23 Makka Time, 9:23 GMT


The probable candidates in Ecuador's presidential runoff vote have begun trading blows, but the collapse of the electoral counting system means some votes are yet to be counted and has angered voters.


Alvaro Noboa, a billionaire banana magnate, had won 26.7 per cent of the votes counted from Sunday's vote and will likely face Rafael Correa, a left-wing former economy minister who won 22.5 per cent, in a second round vote on November 26.

However, counting had to be suspended on Sunday with only 70 per cent of the ballots counted, after a vote-counting system that cost $5m broke down.

On Monday, election officials sacked E-Vote, the Brazilian company responsible for the system.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8E88FACA-9534-4044-9924-2BEE378BCEA7.htm