Elections in Ecuador: Indigenous movements in favor of Yaku Pérez begin mobilization towards Quito to pressure for the counting of votes in the presidency

The definition of second place is essential because whoever occupies that position will be measured in a ballot on April 11 with the winning candidate of the first round, Andrés Arauz, related to former President Rafael Correa.

Last Friday, Pérez and Lasso reached an agreement to carry out a partial vote recount that provided for a review of 100% of the minutes in the province of Guayas, the largest in the country, and 50% of the minutes in other 16 of the 24 provinces of the country.

However, this agreement began to be questioned over the weekend.

On Sunday, Pérez sent a letter to the CNE with the data of the 16 provinces in which he was requesting the count, but then Lasso responded with another communication in which he denounced an alleged imposition of conditions by his competitor and assured that the count should be be carried out in 100% of the acts of Guayas and 50% of six other provinces, provided that the 16 candidates who ran for the elections agree.

Pérez’s request was considered on Tuesday by the plenary session of the CNE, which failed to approve the report that established how the vote count for the first electoral round should be carried out.

During the press conference on Wednesday, Pérez justified the mobilization of indigenous movements.

“We are never going to give up legal and social resistance,” he said, according to Ecuadorian media.

In those same press conference, the Pachakutik coordinator, Marlon Santi, assured that they will not accept a fraud and that its bases will be mobilized if the CNE does not accept the vote count.

Santi assured that the march will be carried out with respect to the biosecurity measures required to face the coronavirus pandemic.

The mobilization of indigenous movements is a cause for concern in some sectors of Ecuador, as they fear that what happened in October 2019 will be repeated, when in the context of a similar mobilization there were groups that caused serious damage and disturbances that lasted several days.

In this regard, Yaku Pérez said that the march is organized by indigenous communities and that they will try to distance themselves from the actions of possible infiltrators.

The presidential candidate ruled out the possibility of supporting Lasso for a second round.

“Don’t even dream that we are going to support Lasso’s organized crimeDon’t even dream that to prevent (Rafael) Correa from coming to Ecuador we have to support the banking holiday and the corruption of Mr. Guillermo Lasso … we are the only ones who can win, “he said.

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