CuencaHighLife

Although international election watchers praised Sunday’s election and the subsequent vote count for its fairness and transparency, they criticized the use of exit polls and a national “quick count” for creating what they called “unnecessary confusion.” Adolfo Mendoza, head of the Andean Parliament election observer team asked Ecuador’s National Electoral Council (CNE) to reconsider the...

As the final votes in Ecuador’s presidential race are counted, Yaku Pérez of the indigenous Pachakutik movement has built a four-tenths of one percent lead over former Guayaquil banker Guillermo Lasso with less than one-and-a-half percent of the votes to be counted. Either Pérez or Lasso will face Correista candidate Andrés Arauz, who leads all...

It is no surprise that Rafael Correa protégé Andrés Arauz leads all candidates with 97.5 percent of the vote counted in Sunday’s presidential election. What is surprising is the strength of indigenous candidate Yaku Pérez, who holds a narrow lead over former Guayaquil banker Guillermo Lasso for the right to challenge Arauz in the April...

According to two presidential election exit polls, Andrés Arauz of the Correista Citizens Revolution movement emerged from Sunday’s vote with a substantial lead over second place candidate Guillermo Lasso and third and fourth place finishers Yaku Pérez and Xavier Hervas. The Cedatos/Gallup poll gives Arauz 34.94 percent of the vote to Lasso’s 20.99 percent, Yaku...

By Kimberley Brown Environmentalists and Indigenous communities in Ecuador are concerned about the fate of the Amazon rainforest ahead of Sunday’s presidential elections, as the two leading candidates’ environmental plans received moderate to poor rankings from advocates. Illegal logging, oil spills and large-scale mining projects have threatened both the rainforest, often called the lungs of the...

National Police arrested three suspects Friday in connection to the January 27 murder of Guayaquil television announcer and personality Efrain Ruales. Ruales died of gunshot wounds in his car after he left a morning workout at his gym in what police believe is a murder-for-hire arrangement, possibly relating to the victim’s reporting of a scandal...

Although he’s running for president, leftist economist Andres Arauz will not be able to vote in his own country because his residence is registered in Mexico, electoral authorities said Friday. “He can only vote in Mexico at the Ecuadoran consulate,” says Enrique Pita, vice president of the National Electoral Council (CNE). Another CNE adviser, Jose...

By Javier Tolcachier In the midst of the anxiety caused by the dramatic health and socio-economic situation, Ecuadorians will have a new date with the ballot box on Sunday. The more than 13 million registered voters will have to choose a new president and his or her vice-president from among sixteen contenders, along with the...