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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 5 april 2017

Ruling party candidate declared victor in Ecuador election

GONZALO SOLANO backed anti-Correa can-
Associated Press didates in the first round
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Rul- and join the growing list of
ing party candidate Lenin Latin American nations —
Moreno has won Ecuador’s Argentina, Brazil, Peru and
tight presidential election, Venezuela — shifting to the
the head of the country’s right in recent elections.
National Electoral Council Many voters had said they
said Tuesday, bucking a favored change amid on-
trend of right-wing elector- going corruption allega-
al victories in South Amer- tions related to bribes that
ica after 15 years of leftist Brazilian construction giant
domination. Odebrecht paid to officials
Juan Pablo Pozo, president in Correa’s government
of the electoral council, and a $12 million contract-
announced the election ing scandal at state-run
win by the leftist Moreno in PetroEcuador.
a nationwide broadcast. But in the final weeks of
He said the results were the race, Moreno inched
“official, irreversible” with ahead in polls amid an ag-
99.65 percent of the votes gressive campaign led by
counted. Correa to cast Lasso as a
He said Moreno won slight- wealthy, out-of-touch poli-
ly over 51 percent of vote, tician who profited from
compared with 49 percent Ecuador’s President Elect Lenin Moreno celebrates his electoral victory, in Quito, Ecuador, Tues- the country’s 1999 bank-
for opposition challenger day, April 4, 2017. Juan Pablo Pozo, president of the electoral council, announced the razor-thin ing crisis. Moreno, 64, also
Guillermo Lasso, who is election win by Moreno in a nationwide broadcast on radio and television. He said the results benefited from last-minute
were “official, irreversible” with 99.65 percent of the votes counted.
contesting the results over (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa) worries that pro-business
allegations of fraud. Lasso would gut social pro-
Pozo said both political National Electoral Council versed in favor of Moreno porters of trying to deny grams if he was elected.
organizations can present in Quito. when official results were the results and provoke vio- Outside the region, the
objections through institu- On election night, thou- computed. lence. election was being closely
tional and legal channels. sands of outraged Lasso The Organization of Ameri- For weeks, Ecuadoreans watched by supporters of
Moreno declared that supporters shouting “fraud” can States said its mission of polarized by 10 years of WikiLeaks founder Julian
“the people have decided crashed through metal electoral observers that vis- Correa’s iron-fisted rule Assange, who has been
democratically” and said barricades to almost reach ited at random 480 voting had been bracing for a living under asylum at Ec-
he accepted his victory the entrance of the coun- centers nationwide found contested vote. uador’s embassy in Lon-
“with humility, at the same cil’s headquarters. no discrepancies between With Ecuador’s economy don since 2012. Before the
time hoping that the other Lasso so far has failed to the tallies and the official expected to shrink by 2.7 election, Lasso had said he
candidate will accept it present any evidence of results and encouraged percent this year as oil would evict the Australian
with dignity.” vote tampering except for Lasso to issue complaints prices remain low, analysts activist, who is wanted for
Lasso, a conservative a single voting act of 248 through institutional chan- had anticipated that Lasso extradition by Sweden,
banker, vowed to con- ballots from a rural area nels. would rally support from the within 30 days of taking of-
tinue fighting against the whose tally he says was re- Correa accused Lasso sup- 60 percent of voters who fice. q
installation of an “illegiti-
mate” government. He
said on Wednesday he Brazil asks diplomats to increase weapons exports
would present evidence
backing up his demand for SAO PAULO (AP) — Bra- tion is among the world’s manufactured by the de- Information Access Law.
a recount. zil has asked its diplomats largest light arms dealers. fense ministry.The Rio de The Folha de S. Paulo news-
“We’re not afraid of the to help increase exports Brazil’s foreign ministry sent Janeiro think tank Instituto paper published excerpts
miserable cowards who of weapons made in the a letter to its embassies late Igarape and Sao Paulo from the letter Sunday. It
are on the wrong side of South American country as last year instructing them to violence prevention group urges diplomats to help
history,” he told a crowd it suffers through one of the promote events and semi- Sou da Paz recently ob- increase sales to Europe,
of a few thousand support- country’s worst economic nars with an eye to increas- tained a copy of the eight- Asia, the Middle East and
ers on Monday outside the crises in decades.The na- ing the export of products page letter through Brazil’s Africa. q