Ecuador: Indigenous Caravan for Vote Recount Approaches Quito

Supporters of the U.S.-backed "eco-socialist" Presidential candidate Yaku Perez will arrive in Quito on Tuesday, seven days after leaving in a caravan from Loja Province in rejection of the Feb. 7 election results.

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The Indigenous caravan headed for the capital following the insistent claims of widespread fraud by the Pachakutik Party nominee. Perez began claiming it after losing to his rival, banker Guillermo Lasso, in the race for the second round of elections against the leftist candidate Andres Arauz.

The march urged the Ecuadorian Attorney General's Office to launch an investigation into the alleged electoral fraud. 

The decision was described by the National Electoral Council (CNE) as "unconstitutional", as it was "an interference of state-owned institutions in the country's electoral process."

"They are afraid because we will continue pushing so that the electoral fraud does not go with impunity," Perez said on Monday as he urged his followers to continue resisting the results.

Meanwhile, Arauz, the Union for Hope Alliance (UNES) candidate, warned the Attorney General's Office will intervene in the electoral machines, which will delay the second round of elections and will extend the current government's term in office.

"The real purpose of this maneuver is to keep President Lenin Moreno in power," condemned Arauz, who won the first round of elections with over 32 percent of the votes in his favor.

"The country needs us united on the same front to make Ecuador a land of opportunities," Lasso added, rejecting the interference of the Moreno administration in electoral matters.