National Electoral Council

QUITO, Ecuador - After several days of suspense, the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Ecuador announced that Lenín Moreno of Rafael Correa's left-wing Alianza PAIS coalition failed to win the presidential election outright in the first round by the narrowest of margins and will face Guillermo Lasso in the runoff vote on April 2.

Ecuador will hold a run-off presidential election in April after a hard fought and inconclusive first round, the electoral commission said Feb. 22.

The voting is being watched closely to see if oil-producing Ecuador will become the latest leftist-run country in Latin America to shift to the right.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Nicolás Maduro has reshuffled members of his cabinet including his second-in-command while the opposition, firmly opposed to Maduro's rule and looking to actively oust him, has elected a new head to lead their coalition in Congress.

CARACAS, Venezuela - In a development that has angered the opposition, the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) has announced that the recall process against President Nicolás Maduro will conclude in 2017, meaning that if the recall goes through, new elections will not be held and Maduro's second-in-command will assume the presidency.

CARACAS, Venezuela – The Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) has opened polling stations across the country and citizens are filing through as the electoral body has opened the first stage of the opposition’s recall effort against President Nicolás Maduro. In the December 2015 election, Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) lost their majority in

Venezuela's opposition won control of congress for the first time in 16 years on Dec. 7 as voters punished the socialist government for an economic crisis and insecurity in the oil-rich nation.

President Nicolas Maduro promptly accepted the defeat, a blow to his leadership and the "revolution" of "21st century socialism" launched by his late predecessor Hugo Chavez.