Thirteen days after the first round of the presidential election, the Ecuadorian National Electoral Council (CNE) officially announced the results of the poll on Sunday February 21. Left-wing economist Andres Arauz, who collected 32.72% in the first round, will face former banker Guillermo Lasso, who took 19.74%. The second round will take place on April 11, and the inauguration of the new president who will succeed Lenin Moreno on May 24.
Mr. Arauz, 36, is the assumed successor of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) who, sentenced to eight years in prison for illicit financing of political parties, lives in exile in Belgium. Guillermo Lasso, 65, who has made a career in business and banking, embodies “right-wing anti-correism”. Charismatic, energetic and “dictatorial” according to his enemies, Rafael Correa thus continues to dominate the political scene.
Announced late in the middle of the night from Saturday to Sunday, the official results did not ease tensions. Coming in third position behind Mr. Lasso with 19.38% of the vote, the candidate of the Indian party Pachakutik, Yaku Perez, the representative of the environmental, anti-authoritarian and anti-corruption left, denounced a fraud against him. The difference between the two candidates (0.36%) is 33,000 votes. On the evening of February 7, Mr. Perez had led the poll for several hours. By announcing on Sunday their intention to conduct a review of the CNE’s computer system, the prosecution and the Contraloria – a sort of service inspection – contributed to the confusion and fueled the doubts surrounding the results.
The coalition that Andres Arauz represents denounced “An attempt to delay or worse to suspend the elections” and announced that she would file a complaint with the Electoral Litigation Tribunal. On Twitter, Rafael Correa denounced ” a coup “.
Walk on Quito
Neck and neck since the start of the count, MM. Lasso and Perez had reached an amicable agreement on February 12 under the aegis of the CNE. The two candidates accepted the principle of a partial recount of the votes in 17 of the country’s 24 provinces. But three days later, Mr. Lasso was backing down. By announcing the results on Sunday, the CNE buries the agreement and the claims of Mr. Perez, who says he holds 15,000 minutes from disputed polling stations. The President of the CNE, Diana Atamaint, specified that the appeals would be examined.
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