Former right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso and left-wing indigenous leader Yaku Perez, neck-to-neck for second place in the second round of the presidential election in Ecuador, agreed on Friday to call for a new first-round vote count.
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"We propose that this (electoral) process be suspended until a new count is made in the 24 provinces,"
said Yaku Perez, during a meeting with Lasso at the headquarters of the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Quito, led by its president Diana Atamaint.
During this meeting, which was also attended by other members of the CNE and international observers, the indigenous leader added that
“today we have a historic opportunity to demonstrate to the country that there is no fraud, that the electoral process was carried out in a transparent manner ”
, on February 7.
"I support the proposal of candidate Yaku Perez so that, within the framework of the law, the counting of the votes is revised",
added his right-wing opponent.
Yaku Perez, a 51-year-old environmental lawyer, who denounces manipulation of votes to prevent his presence in the second round, is at 19.38% of the vote, after being overtaken on Wednesday by the conservative Guillermo Lasso, 65, credited with 19.74%.
One of them will face in the second round, scheduled for April 11, economist Andrés Arauz, 36, the runner-up to former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), leading the first round with 32 70% of the votes, according to the count which still only covered 99.96% of the ballots counted on Friday.
Diana Atamaint said the CNE had "
absolute responsibility to be accountable to the country"
and that Perez's request should be analyzed by the council.
"This situation has unfortunately occurred and generates doubts among the citizens,"
lamented the CNE, which claimed to have
"nothing, absolutely nothing to hide"
as to the narrow difference in the number of votes between Lasso and Perez.
The government of President Lenin Moreno, which was not standing for re-election and will end its four-year term on May 24, has said it will commit
"the necessary economic resources for the process of recounting the votes,"
according to a ministry statement. finances.