NEW evidence emerged in Ecuador yesterday of fraud, corruption and intimidation surrounding the presidential election.

President Daniel Noboa was declared to have won with around 55.8 per cent of the vote over left-wing lawyer Luisa Gonzales from the Citizen Revolution movement, who is said to have secured around 44 per cent.

But Ms Gonzalez claimed yesterday to have uncovered new evidence of irregularities.

In a video on the X social network, Ms Gonzalez reported multiple electoral violations including “1,984 voter registration documents without joint signatures from the Voting Board authorities, which would violate Article 127 of the Code of Democracy and should be invalidated.”

She also said there was an unusual decrease in blank votes, which would “raise doubts about the possible direct manipulation of more than 150,000 ballots.”

She argued that the election campaign was plagued by “irregularities” beginning with President Noboa campaigning without a licence to seek re-election.

Election observer and British activist Lee Brown posted to X that from the president’s imposition of a “state of emergency, to blatant abuses of public funds, there’s no way these elections can be called  ‘free and fair.’

“And now the government is stepping up its repression of political opponents.”