Interamerican Institute for Democracy 24/02/2017
As I am writing these lines, the public in Ecuador is still waiting for the result of the Presidential elections in Ecuador that took place on Sunday, February 19.
Usually election results are known immediately. This delay does not seem to be coincidental at all.
In this election several parties and candidates are running for president. One of them is Lenin Moreno, the candidate of Rafael Correa, the president who modeled his government after Hugo Chavez and has been in power since 2007. As Correa cannot run for another term Lenin Moreno is the man who would continue his legacy.
According to the vote accounts, Lenin Moreno has 39. 1 percent of the vote, followed by Guillermo Lasso, a conservative former banker with 28.4 percent. If Moreno obtains 40% of the vote and has an advantage of 10% of the votes or more over the next candidate, he can be elected president without a run off. At this point, if there is a run off there is a chance that Mr. Lasso would be in a position to win the election.
Therefore, the current delay by the electoral council seems to be related to the fact that the “Correistas” who support Moreno are trying to make sure that Moreno get the 40% necessary to avoid a second round.
However, the delay is already generating anger and protests across the country and an increasing suspicion of fraud.
In fact, suspicion of government fraud has always been there. In fact, it is believed that more than one million dead people are registered “to vote” with the intention of helping the election of Mr. Moreno. Partly because, the Correa government has seen itself as a revolutionary government. Therefore, if there is no perpetuation of power the revolution is interrupted. The use of government resources to influence elections has characterized the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA), a group of socialist leaders led by Venezuela.
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