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2nd LD Writethru: Moreno officially wins Ecuador presidential election

Xinhua, April 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

Ecuadorian ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno won Sunday's presidential election runoff, the country's National Electoral Council (CNE) said on Tuesday.

Moreno garnered 51.16 percent of valid votes while opposition challenger Guillermo Lasso grasped 48.84 percent, with 99.65 percent of votes counted, Juan Pablo Pozo, CNE president, said at a press conference.

The CNE confirmed that Moreno, candidate of the ruling PAIS Alliance, will succeed President Rafael Correa.

Jorge Glas, Moreno's running mate, will continue to serve as the South American country's vice president, a position in which he has served since 2013.

While Lasso has refused to accept the result, claiming to be the victim of electoral fraud, Pozo said that the election had been won fairly.

"We fully and absolutely guarantee that ... political organizations submit objections, challenges and appeals through the institutional and legal channels of a constitutional State of rights and justice," said the leader of the CNE.

Ecuador "has spoken freely at the polls, and it is our civic and ethical duty to respect its voice and its vote," he added.

"We congratulate the Ecuadorian people who have already, legally and legitimately, elected their president and vice-president," Pozo said.

Additionally, the Organization of American States (OAS), with which Lasso has lodged a case of electoral fraud, said on Monday that it had seen "no discrepancies" between results compiled by its observers and the official ones. Endit