Mexico City, April 17 (RHC)-- During her regular morning press conference, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum echoed reports from international observers who considered the electoral contest, which concluded with Ecuador's National Electoral Council announcing the victory of the current president and candidate for reelection, Daniel Noboa, to be "unfair."
Sheinbaum alluded to a statement by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who said on social media that he cannot recognize the Ecuadorian electoral process, arguing that "there are no free elections under a state of siege." The South American president points out that during the elections, a state of emergency was declared in seven provinces, and the army directed the election day, the polling stations, and the vote count.
In addition to considering Noboa's victory "highly doubtful," the Mexican president also pointed to the Ecuadorian-American businessman as "the person responsible for the invasion of the Mexican Embassy, our sovereignty," and was forceful in stating that "relations will not be resumed."
"There are no conditions for that to happen, and to begin with, they have a person imprisoned inside our Embassy," he added.
In turn, the Mexican president mentioned that Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente will be invited to upcoming conferences to more precisely explain Mexico's position on this matter.
Sheinbaum's statements follow the second round of elections in Ecuador and the statements of Luisa González, presidential candidate for the Citizen Revolution political movement, who called the results presented by the National Electoral Council (CNE) fraudulent, which declared the current president Daniel Noboa the winner.
Following the results, multiple international observer organizations, as well as various political forces and social organizations within the country, have denounced multiple irregularities, including the failure of the incumbent president to request a leave of absence to participate in the elections, the declaration of a state of emergency that covered the entire election day, the restriction on voting for Ecuadorians abroad, and the last-minute reassignment of polling stations.
Meanwhile, one of the strongest criticisms is the CNE's validation of ballots that lacked the corresponding signatures and, in all cases, benefited Daniel Noboa.
[ SOURCE: teleSUR ]
