Ecuador orders partial election recount

Ecuador's electoral council has approved the recount of 1.3 million votes from the country's disputed presidential ballot, hoping to affirm what it says was a fair election.

The April 2 poll was won by the government's socialist candidate Lenin Moreno in a close contest, leading the losing conservative candidate to claim voter fraud.

The decision will mean that around 12 percent of the total votes cast will be recounted on Tuesday in public in the capital, Quito.

Recount will give clarity

Council president Juan Pablo Pozo has said reviews show no evidence of fraud, but said he agreed to a recount for "the tranquility of the country."

"We are going to open the polls ... to show the country the truth. We have nothing to hide," Pozo said on Thursday.

Moreno's party has also disputed the results, claiming he won by a larger margin than the tally showed, thanks to his campaign promises to expand access to education and health care.

Moreno picked up 51.16 percent of valid votes compared to 48.84 percent for his opponent Guillermo Lasso, who had vowed to lift the fortunes of Ecuador's slumping economy. Ahead of the vote, opinion polls suggested Lasso would win the presidency.

Lasso, a 61-year-old former banker, said the official results made a "mockery" of the Ecuadorean people, claiming to have found numerous inconsistencies.

Observers cite no issues

But international observers, including the Organization of American States, have said they found no irregularities after visiting 480 voting centers at random.

The country's new president will be inaugurated on May 24 and will replace socialist President Rafael Correa.

Moreno's win bucks a trend in Latin America, where more than a decade of leftist dominance is on the wane.

mm/bw (AFP, AP, Reuters)