Ecuador Indigenous people protest election results

Hundreds of supporters of Ecuor's largest Indigenous political party joined protests on Wednesday over presidential election results which could see ir candidate miss out on an April runoff. Pachakutik supporters are alleging electoral fraud over a review of ballots which could see Yaku Pérez drop to third place in Sunday's vote.

More than 200 demonstrators gared in front of National Electoral Council (NEC) in Quito on Wednesday and more were expected to arrive. Some 15% of votes would be reviewed over supposed irregularities, NEC announced Tuesday. Speaking in Guayaquil, Pérez told a crowd of supporters this number of anomalies was much higher than usual, alleging a fraud was being "consummated".

Sunday's election was won by left-leaning former minister Andrés Arauz, but re is a close race for second between Pérez, on 19.61%, and conservative banker Guillermo Lasso, on 19.66%, with 99.9% of polling stations counted. As of Sunday, NEC has 10 days to process results that will define April 11 runoff candidates that will determine successor to President Lenín Moreno.