Lasso files his claim for an election recount; says irregularities found in 4,243 voting records

Presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso and his CREO party have officially demanded that the National Electoral Council (CNE) recount votes from the April 2 runoff election. In its final vote tally, CNE reported that Lenin Moreno of Alianza Pais won by a margin of 2.3%.

Guillermo Lasso at Wednesday press conference.

At a Quito news conference on Wednesday, Lasso said that CREO attorneys had presented evidence of irregularities in 4,243 records, and said the number represented only a sample of the total voting records. Lasso is demanding a manual vote-by-vote recount of all votes cast.

“I am asking this not just for myself, but for the people of Ecuador, and for democracy and freedom,” Lasso, his wife María de Lourdes Alcívar and vice presidential running mate Andres Páez by his side. He added: “I refuse to be an accomplice of a fraud. In my view, this is a fight against dictatorship.”

In addition to irregularities in precinct voting records, Lasso claims that a “black out” of the official CNE website could have led to an altered vote count. CNE said its website was hacked on election night but that it switched immediately to a back-up, redundant site and that no votes were lost.

By law, CNE has 48 hours to respond to CREO request for a recount.