Ecuador: Arauz anticipates the announcement of the results, claims to be the winner of the presidential election

Socialist Andrés Arauz anticipated the announcement of the official results of the second round of the presidential election on Sunday April 11 in Ecuador by declaring himself the winner against the conservative Guillermo Lasso.

After a very close ballot, the dolphin of ex-president Rafael Correa (2007-2017) addressed his supporters from a platform installed in the center of Quito.

, he said, citing a supposed 1.6% advantage over his right-wing rival.

added Andrés Arauz.

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The National Electoral Council (CNE) began publishing the first partial results an hour earlier than expected, but to an extent that did not show a trend.

The Teleamazonas and Ecuavisa chains had previously disclosed two polls carried out at the exit of the polls, the Cedatos institute crediting Guillermo Lasso with 53.24% of the vote against 46.76% to Andres Arauz, Clima Social placing the two candidates tied and s therefore refraining from publishing the percentages.

But the campaign team has nevertheless communicated the figures of this second institute, giving 50.80% to the leftist candidate against 49.20% to the former conservative banker.

Elbow to elbow

Andrés Arauz led the first round on February 7 with 32.72% against 19.74% for Guillermo Lasso.

But several polls gave them neck and neck at the end of the campaign for Sunday's poll.

On Twitter, the protégé of ex-president Rafael Correa also claimed to have won:

he said.

Read also: Ecuador elects its president, a close duel between left and right

For his part, Guillermo Lasso, did not comment after the polling stations closed at 5 p.m. local time.

Shortly before, he had tweeted:

he wrote.