Ecuador headed to presidential runoff

Quito, February 20 

Ecuador’s presidential election looked headed to a runoff as partial results showed leftist candidate Lenin Moreno fell short of the lead needed to win outright in first-round vote.

With 51.8 per cent of the ballots counted, Moreno had 38.26 per cent of the vote with 29.86 per cent for his conservative rival Guillermo Lasso, the president of the National Electoral Council, Juan Pablo Pozo, said in a televised announcement yesterday.

Moreno needed more than 40 per cent and a 10-point lead over his rival to win outright without facing a runoff.

If in the end Lasso wins the presidency, a pillar of the Latin American left will swing to the right.

Lasso has also said he will end WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy. — AFP