full screen Presidential candidate Jan Topic holds up his ballot showing that he is voting to stop oil drilling. Photo: Martin Mejia/AP/TT
Ecuador stops oil drilling in a reservation for indigenous people in the Amazon. That is the result of one of the two referendums held in connection with this weekend’s presidential election.
With almost all votes counted, 59 percent have voted for the stop, which affects one eighth of all oil production in the country.
The reserve where the disputed oil find is home to five groups of indigenous people, three of which live in isolation from the outside world.
Drilling began in 2016 and outgoing president Guillermo Lasso has previously said that a stop will cost Ecuador the equivalent of SEK 176 billion over the next 20 years.