The uncertainty persists days after the presidential election about the second candidate, who will vote in a runoff in April.
The outgoing President of Ecuador has urged the country’s National Electoral Council (CNE) to deliver accurate election results quickly, amid uncertainty about the second candidate who will take part in a runoff in April.
Lenin Moreno, who did not seek re-election in the February 7 competition, said on Wednesday that “the country needs the results, but also total confidence in these results”.
The CNE is still counting after Sunday’s elections, which saw 16 candidates vying for the job and which took place amid widespread dissatisfaction with Ecuador’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis.
Left economist Andres Arauz, a protégé of former President Rafael Correa, received 32.44 percent of the vote and will advance to the president’s runoff election, but the runner-up remains controversial.
The indigenous environmental activist Yaku Perez holds just under second place with 19.65 percent of the vote, ahead of the right-wing former banker Guillermo Lasso with 19.60 percent. A little more than three percent of the votes still have to be counted.
Perez’s supporters have been protesting outside the CNE offices since Sunday after he alleged, without showing any evidence, that potential “fraud” had taken place.
On Wednesday Moreno called on the CNE to “respond to any request for revision” if the votes are inconsistent, and to do so with “the greatest possible transparency”.
CNE director Diana Atamaint said the body “realized a transparent process”.
The Organization of American States (OAS), which sent election observers to Ecuador to oversee the vote, urged Ecuadorians on Monday to “wait quietly for the results”.
She also called on “political actors to behave responsibly and the National Electoral Council to give all those involved in the process guarantees of transparency, security and legal certainty”.
On the same day, US State Department spokesman Ned Price urged people to “be patient” until all ballots are counted, “and work to resolve conflict in a peaceful and transparent manner and in accordance with the Ecuadorian Constitution and” solve the established norms and processes “.
Perez represents Pachakutik, the party of the indigenous movement of Ecuador, and is known for his opposition to mining and his support for better environmental protection.
For his part, Lasso has pledged to cut taxes and create a million jobs by attracting international investment, particularly in oil and mining.
Arauz has vowed to return to Correa’s socialist policies and pledged to give $ 1,000 to a million Ecuadorian families who suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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