Venezuela, Ecuador Right-Wing Use Same Corrupt Tactics: Correa

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Wednesday slammed his country’s right-wing opposition, claiming its leaders and protesters use the same corrupt tactics their allies in Venezuela use.

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Correa made the remarks on Twitter in response to allegations made by Guayaquil Mayor Jaime Nebot that Ecuador’s recent second-round presidential election was “rigged.”

Nebot, who backed right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso against President-elect Lenin Moreno, supports opposition calls for a “supralegal investigation” into Moreno’s win, which they claim was a “fraud.”

“It is a copy of the ‘strategy’ of the Venezuelan right,” Correa said on Twitter.

“Question the results, de-legitimize the origin of the mandate, keep the streets ‘hot,’ and claim there is a ‘divided’ country. All this to prevent governability.”

Earlier this month, Lasso demanded a recount after he lost the elections, but his plan backfired as irregularities were cleared. Ecuador’s National Electoral Council, CNE, confirmed on Tuesday that with the recount requested by the right-wing opposition, Lasso lost 100 votes, while Moreno gained an additional 143 votes.

The CNE recounted 296,340 votes from ballots with inconsistencies in five provinces. CNE President Juan Pablo Pozo announced that the percentage of votes won by each candidate “remained identical” to the original official results. Despite this, Lasso and Ecuador’s right-wing opposition continues to protest Moreno’s legitimate victory.

Correa believes their behavior mimics that of the Venezuelan opposition, which also claimed in 2013 that President Nicolas Maduro’s election victory was a fraud. In the years following Maduro’s win, the Venezuelan opposition has tried to delegitimize the government and held violent street protests in an effort to portray a “divided country,” just as Correa commented.

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In fact, violent anti-government demonstrations have repeatedly been held in several Venezuelan cities for over two weeks, calling for Maduro’s ousting. The demonstrations were organized in response to a recent decision by the Supreme Court to temporarily assume some responsibilities of the National Assembly as long as the legislature continued to be “in contempt” of the constitution.

Although the ruling was overturned within days, opposition leaders continue to promote violent protests aimed at regime change.

Correa, however, believes the same situation is not likely to happen in Ecuador.

“Here they will not pass,” he said on Twitter.

“They will not be able to rob us of the popular victory.”