Ecuador’s National Electoral Council (CNE) confirmed on Saturday March 20 that left-wing economist Andres Arauz and former right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso will contest the second round of the presidential poll on April 11 after resolving all disputes of the first round of February 7.
“Once 100 % of the votes were counted and the legal appeals filed by the political organizations were resolved, the plenary of the electoral body decided to proclaim the final results of the presidential binomial ”, announced the secretary of the CNE, Santiago Vallejo.
The resolution was adopted unanimously by the five members of the CNE, during a meeting in Guayaquil (southwest).
Mr. Arauz, 36, runner-up to former President Rafael Correa – who has lived in Belgium since 2017 and his departure from power – won the first round with 32.72% of the vote, followed by Mr. Lasso with 19, 74%, according to the CNE count.
The candidate who came third calls not to vote for any of them
The Organization of American States (OAS) Election Observation Mission welcomed the fact that ” the candidates [aient] had multiple opportunities for protest “, which made it possible to bring “The guarantees of certainty necessary in any electoral process”.
Left-wing indigenous leader Yaku Perez, who came in third with 19.39 percent of the vote, claimed he was sidelined by right-wing fraud. He had asked, in vain, for a recount. Mr. Perez, a 52-year-old environmental lawyer, has exhausted all avenues of challenge, which were refused to him by the CNE and by the Electoral Disputes Tribunal (TCE), which is responsible for judging and making respect the electoral rules. In response, he asked his supporters not to vote for any of the candidates in the second round.
The campaign for the second round began on Tuesday. Some 13.1 million voters are being called to the polls to elect the successor to the unpopular President Lenin Moreno, whose term – of four years – will end on May 24.
