Ecuador: second round between the socialist Arauz and the conservative Lasso

Socialist Andrés Arauz and conservative Guillermo Lasso will face each other in the second round of the presidential election in Ecuador on April 11, according to exit polls published on Sunday following elections marked by health measures against Covid- 19.

Read also: In Ecuador, a presidential election for or against Rafael Correa

Economist Andrés Arauz, runner-up to ex-president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), obtained between 34.9% and 36.2% of the vote and ex-right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso between 21% and 21 , 7%, according to these polls from the Cedatos and Clima Social institutes.

Yaku Perez, an indigenous leftist leader opposed to Correism, came third with between 16.7% and 18% of the votes in the presidential election, in which a record 16 candidates participated.

However, Andrés Arauz immediately claimed the “

”.

“

”, tweeted the dolphin of Correa, calling however to wait“ for

”the result.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) was to publish a first partial count in the evening.

Guillermo Lasso, leader of the right-wing opposition, was running for the third time in the presidential election.

In 2017, he lost by two points in the second round to the unpopular today Lenin Moreno, who has turned his back on Correism and will end his four-year term on May 24.

On Sunday, 13.1 million voters were also called upon to nominate the 137 deputies of the unicameral parliament.

Long queues had stretched in front of the polling stations, before they closed at 5 p.m., due to the health measures imposed against the coronavirus, the police only allowing 10 people to enter at a time.