Ecuador Indigenous people protest election results

Hundreds of supporters of Ecuador's largest Indigenous political party joined protests on Wednesday over presidential election results which could see their 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 gathered in front of the National Electoral Council (NEC) in Quito on Wednesday and more were expected to arrive. Some 15% of votes would be reviewed over supposed irregularities, the 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 there 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, the NEC has 10 days to process the results that will define the April 11 runoff candidates that will determine the successor to President Lenín Moreno.