Ecuador’s leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno on Sunday claimed victory in the nation’s presidential vote, bucking a shift to the right in South America, but the conservative challenger asked for a recount as some supporters took to the streets in protest.
A Moreno win would come as a relief for WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange after conservative candidate Guillermo Lasso vowed to remove Assange from the Ecuadoran embassy in London if he won the runoff.
It would also boost the struggling leftist movement in South America after right-leaning governments recently came to power in Argentina, Brazil and Peru as a commodities boom ended, economies flagged and corruption scandals grew.
Photo: AFP
The region’s de facto leftist leader, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro profusely congratulated Moreno on Twitter, as did Bolivian President Evo Morales.
Lasso, a former banker, had promised to denounce the embattled Maduro, who foes say has lurched his country toward dictatorship.
Moreno, a paraplegic former Ecuadoran vice-president, had secured 51.1 percent of the votes compared with Lasso’s 48.9 percent, with more than 96 percent of votes counted, according to the electoral council.
It has not yet declared a winner.
A somber Lasso, who had earlier proclaimed himself victorious based on a top pollster’s exit poll, disputed the results that would extend a decade-long leftist rule in oil-rich Ecuador.
“They’ve crossed a line,” he told supporters gathered in a hotel in his coastal hometown of Guayaquil.
Lasso asked for a recount and vowed to challenge the results, a complex process that could take time.
“We’re going to defend the will of the Ecuadoran people in the face of this fraud attempt,” he said.
Lasso contrasted Sunday’s fast results with the first round of the election in February, when a final tally took days to come out and his supporters gathered in front of the council to guard against what they said were fraud attempts.
Hundreds of Lasso supporters again swarmed in front of council offices in the capital, Quito, and Guayaquil, waving yellow, blue and red Ecuadoran flags and chanting “No to fraud,” and “We don’t want to be Venezuela.”
There were reports of isolated clashes, but protests lost intensity as the night went on and people went home.
Moreno, who lost the use of his legs two decades ago when he was shot during a robbery, would become one of few presidents in the world to use a wheelchair if he takes office on May 24.
“Lenin,” as he is commonly referred to by his supporters, on Sunday night celebrated in mountainous Quito with the flag-waving crowd chanting: “Lenin president.”
“We’re going to keep building the path. We’ve done a lot, but there’s a lot more to do,” he said, flanked by running mate and Ecuadoran Vice President Jorge Glas, as well as outgoing Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa.
They broke into several songs, including one about Argentine revolutionary hero Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
Moreno, a former UN envoy on disability, has a more conciliatory style than the fiery Correa and has promised benefits for single mothers, elderly people and disabled Ecuadorans.
He would face strong pressure to create jobs amid an economic downturn and to crack down on graft amid corruption scandals at state-run oil company PetroEcuador and Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht.
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