[News] Lenin Again Wins Ecuador's Presidential Race After Recount

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Lenin-Again-Wins-Ecuadors-Presidential-Race-After-Recount-20170418-0015.html 



  Lenin Again Wins Ecuador's Presidential Race After Recount

April 18, 2017

Ecuador's National Electoral Council President Juan Pablo Pozo reported 
that Tuesday's recount 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuador-Recounts-1.2M-More-Votes-Undercuts-Oppositions-Fraud-Accusations-20170414-0006.html> 
of the ballots that had inconsistencies during the April 2 presidential 
run-off election was completed, with Alianza Pais candidate Lenin Moreno 
again winning the vote.

The result of the recount culminated with more votes for leftist Moreno, 
while the right-wing candidate Guillermo Lasso, of the CREO-SUMA 
coalition, obtained fewer votes. Moreno obtained 51.15 percent of the 
votes on April 2, but in today's recounted got 51.16 percent. Lasso went 
from 48.85 percent to 48.84 percent.

Denouncing opposition claims of fraud, Pozo said the recount was 
historic and fully transparent. The head of the CNE also said that the 
recount was "100 percent of ballot objections. There is no random and 
proportional count here. This is the count of the ballots that the 
political organizations presented."

The recount, which took place at the Rumiñahui General Coliseum in the 
capital of Quito, had more than three thousand people and 24 delegates 
from international observation missions.

A total of 3,865 ballots were reviewed, which represent 1,275,450 votes, 
or 11.2 percent of the total votes across the country and abroad. These 
are the ballots that both Alianza Pais and CREO-SUMA presented 
documentation and legal complaints against.

CNE officials completed the scanning process of the recounted ballots 
and added the reports to the final tally. The process was open to the 
public and included the presence of political parties, military and 
police and international observers.

The CNE counted vote by vote if the ballots had inconsistencies, meaning 
the sum did not add up to the official transcripts, or that a member of 
the voting table didn't sign the final report.

Paul Salazar, CNE member, said the presence of local and international 
observers from the Association of World Election Bodies, the 
Organization of American States and the Union of South American Nations, 
as well as political parties ensure the process was transparent.

"We have moved forward on all the appeals presented by both parties, in 
a transparent way," Salazar told teleSUR. "We want political parties to 
be certain and confident that above all the will of the Ecuadoreans 
expressed in their vote is respected," said Salazar.

Despite the opposition requesting the recount after losing the 
elections, they failed to send any delegates to observe the process. A 
group of around 20 supporters of candidate Guillermo Lasso were outside 
the coliseum shouting and blocking traffic.

"I know they're outside, unfortunately, they should be here, seeing that 
the process has been going on without any problems," said Salazar.

Banker-turned-candidate Lasso also alleged there was electronic fraud 
during the elections and that he wouldn't accept the results, despite 
the rest of Latin America, as well as the OAS, already having done so. 
Lasso says he wants all the votes from the election, even those without 
inconsistencies, to be counted again.

Ricardo Valverde, an observer from the Inter-American Union of Electoral 
Bodies, said the observers had the opportunity to be in contact with all 
political parties and ensure their technical work.

"We have been in all the phases, since the first round and we reiterate 
the certainty that the actions of the National Electoral Council have 
been adequate," Valverde told teleSUR.

Pozo added during the opening ceremony of the recount process, "No one 
can be misinformed, we have nothing to hide here. This false myth of 
fraud is an attack against the dignity of a whole country."

Pozo said last week that CREO had presented an appeal to nullify the 
elections and even wanted the recount process to be suspended.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20170419/cf8b6783/attachment.htm>