Moreno Leads After 1st Round in Ecuador Presidential Election, 2nd Round to Come

Ecuador will hold the second round of presidential election and Lenin Moreno, a candidate from the ruling PAIS Alliance party, is currently the leading candidate following the first round of the election, Ecuador's National Election Commission (CNE) chief Pablo Pozo said in a statement.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) — According to Pozo, with 51.8 percent of the ballots counted, Moreno received 38.26 percent of votes, while his main rival Guillermo Lasso, a candidate from Ecuador's opposition Creo-Suma alliance, received 29.86 percent of votes.

"At the moment, we can say that there will be the second round," Pozo said.

It is necessary to gain 50 percent of votes in order to win at the first round of the election. The victory at the first round is also possible if a candidate gains 40 percent of votes and gets ahead of the rival by 10 percent.

Earlier in the day, Ecuador’s incumbent leader Rafael Correa has ruled out a presidential election runoff after first-round of the vote.

The frontrunner was Lenin Moreno, former vice-president and member of Correa’s center-left PAIS Alliance party. He was challenged by conservative businessman Guillermo Lasso and Social Christian candidate Cynthia Viteri.

The second round of the presidential election in Ecuador is expected to take place on April 2.

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