reaffirmed the transparency of Sunday's General Elections and said that the presence of national and international observers, along with 50,000 election monitors, will ensure a clean electoral process.
Ruling out any narrative that casts doubt on the electoral process' transparency, Burneo noted that a key new feature of these elections is the decision to retain ballot papers so they can be recounted if necessary, unlike in previous processes when they were destroyed.
"We have prepared for what is new in these elections, which is the vote recount, the preservation of ballot papers that were previously discarded and found scattered at polling places; now they will be kept, and at the request of the Special Electoral Boards, they may be requested for a recount," he told a local news outlet.
The JNE head indicated that, for a potential ballot recount, the Special Electoral Boards (JEE) may request the ballot papers in cases where disputes arise or decisions cannot be made based on the electoral records.
Burneo specified that this recount could be carried out swiftly, within six to eight hours, and made public to enhance transparency and dispel any risk surrounding the results.
In that regard, he said the 60 Special Electoral Boards will administer justice at the first instance, while the JNE's plenary acts as the second instance.
Monitors and observers
The electoral authority also dismissed any narrative of fraud surrounding the General Elections.
Likewise, Burneo reiterated that there will be more than 50,000 JNE election monitors nationwide—one for every two polling tables—along with the presence of nearly 600 international observers and 4,000 national ones.
"We are going to deploy extensive human and logistical resources for these elections," he said.
Electoral offenses
At another point, the JNE head said citizens should avoid committing electoral offenses.
These offenses may include carrying electoral propaganda, causing disturbances or staging demonstrations, and attempting in any way to violently influence another person's vote in favor of a particular political option.
It is not permitted to take photos of ballot papers and publish them, among other actions that could sometimes pose risks, even unintentionally.
"We ask all individuals to take measures to avoid any risk that could lead to intervention, not only by election monitors but also by the Public Ministry (Prosecutor's Office), which will deploy crime prevention prosecutors," he concluded.