Electoral Mission Says Results Reflect Will of Ecuadoreans

Jose "Pepe" Mujica, Uruguayan former president and head of the election observation mission of the Union of South American Nations, UNASUR, said the presidential election in Ecuador was carried out with tranquility and transparency.

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"This is the most important decision of a representative democracy," said Mujica, who spent election day Sunday in Guayaquil.

Mujica rejected fraud allegations raised by the right-wing opposition party and its supporters, who gathered outside the National Electoral Council offices in Quito and attempted to break through the police cordon to approach the building, where vote counting was underway.

"This is not a war, it is a decision that has to be taken and as such we must protect it," said Mujica. "Form and procedure matters, and there is a guarantee."

Around 280 delegates from international missions observed the election across the 24 provinces. Preliminary reports indicated that the elections went smoothly without any major reports of irregularities.

Official election results from the National Electoral Council, known as CNE, indicate that with 99.38 percent of the ballots counted, Lenin Moreno and his vice presidential candidate Jorge Glas won the election with 51.16 percent of the votes against Guillermo Lasso and Andres Paez with 48.84 percent.

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Preliminary reports from election observers fly in the face of claims from Lasso's camp after the former banker whipped up expectations of election fraud among his supporters. He and his running mate, Paez, have called for a recount, rebuffing CNE reports that the country conducted a transparent and successful election process, calling for everyone to respect the results.

Alexander Vega, also from the UNASUR mission, said the whole process was effectively safeguarded by members of the military and that "all was done in tranquility."

Moreno is set to continue and expand social programs introduced under outgoing President Rafael Correa, for whom Lenin served as vice president from 2007 to 2013 before working as the U.N. special envoy for Disability and Accessibility.