Lasso Thanked Ecuadoreans for Coming Out to Vote in Peace

In his first speech after the partial presentation of official presidential election results, Creating Opportunities (CREO) candidate Guillermo Lasso thanked Ecuadorians for coming out to vote in peace.

"Ecuadorians believe in democracy," Lasso said and thanked Jaime Nebot, the leader of the Social Christian party and former mayor of Guayaquil.

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The CREO candidate also mentioned Alfredo Borrero, whom he referred to as Ecuador's vice-president-elect, although the authorities have not made official proclamations of dignity yet. 

As of 9:00 pm local time, the National Electoral Council (CNE) had officially counted 96 percent of the ballots. So far, the Creating Opportunities (CREO) candidate Guillermo Lasso has obtained 52 percent of the votes. The Union for Hope (UNES) candidate Andrez Arauz got 47 percent of the ballots. 

The CNE Vice President Enrique Alcivar recalled that "the official results will be known when the last vote has been counted. He insisted that the pollsters took samples, they are only indications," as Pichincha Comunicaciones reported

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Meanwhile, in a television interview, the director of the private pollster CEDATOS Polibio Cordova said that his exit poll used information from 34,000 citizens selected in 23 provinces and 722 urban and rural polling centers. 

He noted that Arauz won 57 percent of the vote on the Ecuadorian coast. In the highlands, however, Lasso would have obtained 64 percent of the votes.

The pollster Clima Social has not yet published the results of its exit poll, the report of which speaks of a "technical tie".

It also ensures that the difference in the percentage of valid voting between the candidates is less than the error band of the study.

The CNE recalled that the results of the pollsters are not official and that "they do not reflect the result of all the votes recorded by Ecuadorians at the polls."