Rafael Correa denounced “a coup” in Ecuador …

Former President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, denounced “a coup” after the country’s attorney general’s office decided remove computers from the National Electoral Council do “a computer forensic expertise”. Businessman and presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso also repudiated the state body’s decision.

“Attention Latin America and the world: Ecuador is once again undergoing a coup. The prosecutor’s office tries to take the computers of the National Electoral Council (CNE) so that the results are not proclaimed and prevent the second round. The president of the CNE denounces having taken his custody, ”Correa said in a message via his Twitter account.

Shortly before, Andres Arauz, presidential candidate of Correismo and winner of the first electoral round, made the same complaint on their social networks.

“We are sending the world an alert. They are seeking to remove the computer hardware to prevent the second round from taking place. The Ecuadorian people will not allow this attack on their democracy. Why have they withdrawn from custody of the CNE?” Arauz tweeted.

As soon as the official results which gave Arauz the winner were known and they confirmed that the businessman Guillermo Lasso will be his rival in the next election on April 11, the Attorney General of Ecuador issued a statement to the press and on their social media to order the “collection of digital content from the database administered by the electoral computer system”.

The objective, according to the prosecution, is “to preserve the database which manages the electoral computer system with a cut to date” and “to generate a report at the level of the database of minutes with inconsistencies of the Provincial Electoral Council of Guayas “, a constituency where some 26 minutes will be examined, while the candidate who came third, very close to Lasso, the indigenous leader Yaku Pérez, had asked for a complete recount, after having denounced an” attempt to electoral fraud “by” the right wing. “.

The prosecutor’s decision was also rejected by Lasso who said that the suppression of computers are “facts which should alarm all those who defend democracy in Ecuador” and warned on his Twitter account: “Now is not the time for fear, to defend people or private interests “.