Ecuador to Recount Votes to Decide Presidential Runoff Candidate

(Bloomberg) -- Ecuador’s elections council will recount votes in 17 provinces to determine who will face left-wing economist Andres Arauz in a runoff for the country’s presidency.

The National Electoral Council reached a deal on the partial recount of first-round electoral results with conservative candidate Guillermo Lasso and indigenous party candidate Yaku Perez. With about 99.7% of ballots counted ahead of the announcement, Lasso had 19.7% of the vote and Perez 19.4%.

All precinct reports will be counted again in Guayas, the most populous province, and half of reports in 16 other provinces. Perez challenged the results after he was overtaken by Lasso late in the count. The candidate with the most votes will face Arauz, who obtained 32.7% of the vote, in an April 11 runoff.

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