Mohammadi News Agency News – Features – Photo
MNA International Desk: Leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno Lenin Moreno claimed victory in Ecuador presidential vote on Sunday, bucking a shift to the right across South America, but the conservative challenger asked for a recount.
A Moreno victory would come as a relief for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange after Guillermo Lasso vowed to remove him from the Ecuadorean embassy in London if he won the runoff.
Moreno, a paraplegic former vice-president, had secured 51.07 percent of the votes compared to Lasso’s 48.93 percent, with just over 94 percent of votes counted, according to the electoral council. It has not yet declared a winner.
Right-leaning governments have come to power in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru recently as a commodities boom ended, economies flagged and corruption scandals grew.
Lasso, a former banker, had promised to denounce embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Ecuador’s current government.
