One hour after the official closing of the Ecuadorian elections, Union for Hope (UNES) Presidential candidate Andres Arauz offered a press conference to make a brief assessment of the electoral process.
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"The extent of the victory is such that it gives us enough strength to face the future with serenity," he said.
"We have been victorious in all regions of the country and that is a sign showing that our project is truly national."
The Leftist candidate recalled that the figures so far reported come from exit polls, which are based on samples. Arauz called on all citizens to be absolutely respectful of the democratic process and wait for the National Electoral Council (CNE) to issue official results.
The UNES presidential candidate pointed out that there are reasons to believe that the difference between first place and second place will be much wider when all the votes are counted.
"The exit polls' results do not reflect the votes abroad", he said and called on 36,000 volunteers to remain at the polling stations to ensure a proper vote count. He also indicated that his team has implemented a technological system to monitor in real-time the vote counts.
"Our candidacy represents all the Ecuadorian people and that will be part of the construction of the new government," Arauz said and invited everyone to unite to overcome "the crisis and mistreatment" in which citizens have lived over the last four years.
"We invite all the candidates who carried out a clean political campaign to join the project of hope," he added.