WikiLeaks has responded to reports that Julian Assange will be given 30 days notice to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London if an opposition candidate wins the presidential election, by praising the country's protection of refugees.
Presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso, of the right-wing Creo-Suma alliance, said in an interview that if he wins the election later this month, he will "cordially ask Senor Assange to leave within 30 days of assuming a mandate".
He told The Guardian the Ecuadorian people have been paying a cost "we should not have to bear".
He is behind ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno in the opinion polls ahead of the first round of voting on February 19.
Australia's Assange has been living inside the embassy for more than four years, believing he will be extradited to the US for questioning over the activities of WikiLeaks if he leaves.
He has been questioned about a sex allegation in Sweden, which he denies.
A member of Assange's legal team told the Press Association: "Ecuador as a state has domestic and international legal obligations to protect its refugees from persecution which it has shown significant courage in upholding.
"Assange faces life imprisonment or death in the United States over his publishing work. The US Department of Justice states that its 'national security' case against Assange remains 'active and ongoing'.
"The United Nations has twice found within the last year that Ecuador's position in relation to Mr Assange is correct."
The WikiLeaks founder this week made a fresh appeal to the UK and Swedish authorities to "restore" his liberty.
He spoke out a year after a United Nations working group found he was being "arbitrarily detained" by the UK and Sweden.
He said that one year on, neither government has complied with the UN's findings.
Assange said: "I call on the UK and Sweden to do the right thing and restore my liberty."
