(ANSA) - QUITO, 21 FEB - The National Electoral Council (Cne) of Ecuador made it official last night that, based on the results of the 7 February elections, the progressive candidate Andrés Arauz (Unes), with 32.72% of votes, and the conservative Guillermo Lasso (Creo-PSC) with 19.74%, will participate in a ballot on 11 April to establish who will be the successor of President Lenin Moreno.
A phase is now opening in which, according to the electoral law, excluded candidates will be able to present appeals.
And this is what the indigenous environmental candidate Yaku Pérez, of the Pachakutik party, almost certainly intends to do, who, third with 19.38% of the votes, is convinced that his exclusion from the ballot is "the result of fraud".
For this reason, with the support of various indigenous organizations, he organized a march of almost 700 kilometers which, starting from Loja, will arrive in Quito next Tuesday.
His requests concern a recount of 100% of the votes of the populous province of Guayas and 50% of those of many other provinces.
For the moment, the Cne has partially accepted only one sub-appeal for a new ballot of votes in about thirty seats in the provinces of Guayas and Los Rios.
However, the decisions of the CNE can now be challenged before the Electoral Litigation Tribunal (Tce) for a new examination of the appeals, Arauz is a 35-year-old economist who between 2015 and 2015 was minister of the former president Rafael Correa, currently exiled in Belgium.
Lasso, on the other hand, is a 65-year-old businessman and entrepreneur, former governor of Guayas, and on his third attempt to conquer the highest office in the state.
(HANDLE).