Ecuador: The candidacies for the second round of the presidential elections have been approved

His National Electoral Council (CNE) Equatorial confirmed on Saturday that left-wing economist Andres Arrauss and conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso will face off in the second round of the presidential election on April 11, after all the outstanding issues and disputes over the outcome of the first round were resolved.

After “100% of the votes were counted” and “all legal appeals were settled” that had been filed, “the plenary of the electoral body decided to announce” the result and who are the two candidates in the second round, explained the secretary of the CNE, the Santiago Vallejo.

The decision was adopted unanimously by the five members of the CNE during its meeting in Guayaquil (southwest).

Andres Arous, a 36-year-old dolphin of former President Rafael Correa – the latter who has lived in Belgium since leaving power in 2017 – won the first round with 32.72% of the vote, with Lasso second 19.74%, according to the final results announced by the CNE.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) election observation mission welcomed the fact that candidates were given “many opportunities” to “challenge the outcome” and that it provided “the necessary guarantees”, the verification required “in all electoral processes “.

Indigenous left-wing leader Yaku Peres, who came in third with 19.39% of the vote, complained that he was excluded from the right-wing fraudulent race. He asked – in vain – for a recount.

Mr Peres, a 52-year-old environmental lawyer, has exhausted all appeals, with his appeals dismissed by both the CNE and the Electoral Court (TCE), which is responsible for enforcing the rules. with electoral procedures.

Reacting, he called on his supporters not to vote for any of the candidates in the second round.

The election campaign ahead of the second round of elections began on Tuesday.

Some 13.1 million voters will go to the polls to nominate the successor to the unpopular president, Lenin Moreno, whose term ends on May 24.

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