Flawed poll records delay naming Ecuador prez race’s runner-up

Quito, Feb 11 : Election officials in Ecuador have had to review more than 1,000 poll records with irregularities, delaying the announcement of a runner-up who will compete in an April 11 presidential run-off, according to officials.
The second place in the general elections which took place on Sunday is being disputed between indigenous activist Yaku Perez and former banker Guillermo Lasso, one of whom will go up against front-runner Andres Arauz in the April election, reports Xinhua news agency.
According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), with 99.67 per cent of the ballots counted as of Wednesday afternoon, Perez secured 19.7 per cent of valid votes, while Lasso received 19.59 per cent, a difference of about 12,000 votes.
However, 3.53 per cent of the electoral records (1,415) have presented some irregularities, such as numerical inconsistencies, lack of signatures of voting station members, scanning failures or complaints from political organizations, and are still pending, according to the CNE.
In addition, another 0.33 per cent of the records (130) have yet to be processed, the Council added.
CNE President Diana Atamaint assured that the electoral body was acting “with absolute transparency” in the review and counting process.