Elections in Ecuador: Lenin leads

20.02.2017

On February, 19 presidential election was held in Ecuador.

The battle is not finished

A runoff vote appears likely in Ecuador’s presidential election with Lenín Moreno appearing to fall just short of the 40% required for outright victory over his rightwing rival Guillermo Lasso.

With 87% of votes counted early on Monday morning, the national electoral council gave 39.09% to Moreno, who was a former vice-president under the outgoing Rafael Correa, and 28.28% to Lasso, a 61-year-old former banker. For an outright win a candidate needs 40% and a 10-point lead over his nearest rival.

Candidates

Lenin Moreno was a Vice President of Ecuador from 2007 to 2013. He became paraplegic after being shot in the back in 1998, set out to improve the rights of people with disabilities. Moreno promised to create in four years more than 250 thousand new jobs and maintain the current social policy focused on the support of the poor.

In 2012, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2013 he became a special envoy of the UN Secretary General on disability and access.

Lenin Moreno can become a worthy successor to President Correa.

 

Guillermo Lasso -  he is a typical representative of the liberal elites. A former banker, he served as Minister of Economy in the government of President Jamil Mauada until it was deposed in 2000. He was also the Governor of Guayas province.

Lasso is second time participating in the presidential elections. His campaign slogan was " create an Ecuador with opportunities for all ". But his true intensions are to create opportunities for western oligarchy. For onstance, he wants to cut taxes for big companies and he also has plans to make Ecuador's central bank independent of the government and evict the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.