A boost for the left

Alexandra Ulmer AND Alexandra Valencia -

Leftist candidate Lenin Moreno on Monday celebrated victory in Ecuador’s presidential election, bucking a shift to the right in South America, but his conservative challenger demanded a recount as some supporters took to the streets in protest.

Moreno’s triumph was a relief for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after former banker Guillermo Lasso had vowed to remove him from Ecuador’s embassy in London if he won the runoff.

It was also a boost for the struggling leftist movement in South America after right-leaning governments recently came to power in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru as a commodities boom ended, economies flagged and corruption scandals grew.

The region’s high-profile Socialist leader, President Nicolas Maduro of crisis-hit Venezuela, congratulated Moreno profusely on Twitter, as did Bolivian President Evo Morales.

“Congratulations Ecuador, the citizen’s revolution has triumphed!” said Maduro, as did much of his cabinet.

“21st century Socialism always triumphs,” tweeted Morales. “Congratulations brother @Lenin!”

Lasso had promised to denounce the embattled Maduro, who foes say has turned his country into a dictatorship.

Moreno, a paraplegic former vice president, secured 51.15 per cent of the votes, compared with Lasso’s 48.85 per cent, with more nearly 99 per cent of votes counted, according to the electoral council on Monday morning. Lasso, who had proclaimed himself victorious based on a top pollster’s exit poll, disputed the results that would extend a decade-long leftist rule in oil-rich Ecuador.

“They’ve crossed a line,” he told supporters in a hotel in his coastal hometown of Guayaquil on Sunday, vowing to challenge the results, a complex process that could take time.

“We’re going to defend the will of the Ecuadorean people in the face of this fraud attempt,” he said. Lasso tweeted photos showing what he said were original votes for him that were changed by electoral officials. The election authority denied fraud allegations.

Lasso contrasted Sunday’s quickly tallied vote with the first round in February, when a final results took days to come out.

Hundreds of his supporters swarmed in front of electoral council offices in the capital, Quito, and Guayaquil, waving yellow, blue and red Ecuadorean flags and chanting “No to fraud!” and “We don’t want to be Venezuela!”

There were reports of isolated clashes, but protests ebbed as the night went on and people went home. Ruling Country Alliance officials scoffed that Lasso was a sore loser and inciting violence.

Moreno, who lost the use of his legs two decades ago when he was shot during a robbery, would become a rare head of state to use a wheelchair when he takes office on May 24. — Reuters