Noboa declared winner of Ecuador presidential race as rival demands recount
Ecuador’s national electoral council on Sunday, April 13, declared President Daniel Noboa the winner of the country’s presidential race, after he held a steady and unexpectedly wide 12-point lead over leftist Luisa Gonzalez throughout the count.
Gonzalez told chanting supporters she does not accept the results and will demand a recount, calling it “the worst and most grotesque electoral fraud in the history of Ecuador.”
With nearly 93% of ballot boxes counted, Noboa had 55.8% of votes, compared to Gonzalez’s 44.1%, a difference of more than one million votes.
The results were a sharp contrast to the February first round, where Noboa finished just 16,746 votes ahead of Gonzalez.
“We inform the Ecuadorean people that with more than 90% of the ballot boxes processed nationally there is an irreversible trend in the second round of voting,” Diana Atamaint, the head of the national electoral council said in a statement to the press. “The winning duo is Daniel Noboa Azin and (vice president-elect) Maria Jose Pinto.”
Gonzalez expressed disbelief over the results to chanting supporters in Quito.
“I refuse to believe that a people would prefer lies instead of truth, violence instead of peace and unity,” Gonzalez said. “We are going to demand a recount and for them to open ballot boxes.”
The candidates and Gonzalez’s mentor, former President Rafael Correa, had urged some 90,000 polling-place observers to guard against electoral fraud.
Correa said on social media the results were “impossible”.
Meanwhile Noboa, a 37-year-old business heir, said in remarks from the beach town of Olon that there was no doubt about his victory as he thanked supporters. – Rappler.com