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News > Ecuador

Ecuador's Electoral Authorities Refuse Vote Recount

  • National Electoral Council (CNE) President Diana Atamaint, Quito, Ecuador, Feb. 10, 2021.

    National Electoral Council (CNE) President Diana Atamaint, Quito, Ecuador, Feb. 10, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @tomebamba

Published 17 February 2021
Opinion

They decided neither approve nor deny the report requested by Indigenous candidate Yaku Perez to urge a vote recount.

Ecuador's National Electoral Council (CNE) Tuesday rejected the legal report that requested a recount of votes from the presidential election's first round held on February 7.

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Andres Arauz Wins the First Electoral Round in Ecuador

The report, which urges the scrutiny of 50 percent of the tally sheets in 16 of 24 provinces and 100 percent in the Guayas Province, was drafted after U.S.-backed "eco-socialist" candidate Yaku Perez claimed electoral fraud.

"We neither approve nor deny the report," CNE President Diana Atamaint said after the document received two votes in favor, one against, and one abstention by the Council Plenary.

Councilor Luis Verdesoto left the room during the vote as he considered "biased" the document that was drafted by the CNE Legal Advisory Directorate.

Candidate Perez urged recounting the votes when banker Guillermo Lasso gained an advantage in the dispute to reach the second round of elections against leftist Union for Hope (UNES) nominee Andres Arauz. 

"Ecuador is going through a deep political crisis. During the electoral campaign, the candidates had already built a discourse about the possibility of fraud, which hit the CNE credibility," political analyst Pedro Donoso said.

Authorities have not yet confirmed who will be the candidate to face Arauz in the run-off. However, the decision not to recount votes gives an advantage to Lasso, who received 19.74 percent of the vote, over his rival Perez, who obtained 19.38 percent.

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