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With this decision, the banker Guillermo Lasso withdraws from the agreement reached with his rival Yaku Perez on Feb. 12.
Ecuador's Creating Opportunities (CREO) Presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso on Sunday withdrew from the agreement reached with Pachakutik's candidate Yaku Perez on vote recount.
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Ecuador's Electoral Council Announces Partial Recount of Votes
Previously, on Friday, the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that the two candidates competing for second place had agreed that the votes for the Feb. 7 elections be fully counted in the Guayas province again. They also requested that the authorities recount 50 percent of the votes in 16 provinces.
However, Lasso on Sunday night stated the recount of 50 percent of the votes in 16 provinces was a waste of time.
"I will never accept the possibility of a broader difference favoring Perez," said Lasso, referring to the 16 provinces where Pachakutik's candidate won.
A full week after #Ecuador held general elections, 100% of all tally sheets have been processed showing the following results:
— Ecuador On Q (@Ecuador_On_Q) February 14, 2021
Andrés Arauz 32.71% (3,030,270 votes)
Guillermo Lasso 19.74% (1,828,383 votes)
Yaku Pérez 19.38% (1,795,046 votes) pic.twitter.com/fsaH3G8pgz
The withdrawal of the agreement calls into question the legitimacy of the victory of Lasso who seems not to be entirely sure of his figures.
"Why are you backing out of the vote recount? What did you and the CNE do? Why you don't want Ecuador to know? For you, politics is a game," said Perez.
On Feb. 7, the Union For Hope (UNES) Presidential candidate Andres Arauz achieved 32.06 percent of the votes. The election run-off will be held on April 11 with the second-place candidate.
So far, however, the electoral authorities have not officially defined whether that second place belongs to the right-wing banker Lasso or the U.S.-backed "eco-socialist" Perez.
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