Alleged cyberattacks mar online voting in Ecuador

Many Ecuadoreans living overseas faced difficulties in casting their online vote for their national election on Sunday. Out of nearly 120,000 Ecuadoreans living abroad and registered to vote in the elections, many were unable to access the voting system before polls closed.

Addressing the issue, Diana Atamaint, the President of the National Electoral Council, acknowledged the occurrence of cyberattacks on the telematic voting platform, which hindered the seamless accessibility of the voting process. She emphasized, “We want to inform the Ecuadorian people that, according to initial reports, the telematic voting platform experienced cyberattacks that disrupted the process of accessing the vote.” Atamaint further clarified that although the voting process was impacted, the integrity of the cast votes remained uncompromised. She highlighted that the sources of these cyberattacks were traced to seven countries: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia, and China.

Atamaint mentioned that the incident notably affected voters in Europe to a greater extent, prompting electoral authorities to deliberate on the appropriate course of action in accordance with legal mandates.

As the vote counting reached 80% completion on Monday, left-wing candidate Luisa Gonzalez took the lead, surpassing Daniel Noboa, who held the second position.