Conservative exbanker wins presidential contest
QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador will be led for the next four years by a conservative businessman after voters rebuffed a leftleaning movement that yielded an economic boom and then a recession since taking hold of the presidency last decade.
The South American nation held the election Sunday under strict public health measures amid a surging coronavirus pandemic that has brought on new lockdowns and exacerbated a general sense of fatigue.
The victory of former banker Guillermo Lasso came after less than half of a percentage point put him ahead of another candidate and allowed him to claim a spot in Sunday’s runoff. The result breaks off the country’s years under “Correismo,” a movement labeled after former President Rafael Correa. Correa governed Ecuador from 2007 through 2017, grew increasingly authoritarian in the latter years of his presidency and was sentenced to prison last year in a corruption scandal.
Correa’s protege, Andres Arauz, easily advanced to the contest to replace President Lenin Moreno, who chose not to seek reelection. Moreno was also an ally of Correa but turned against him while in office. In the runoff, Lasso benefited from the discontent toward Correa and his allies, but he will have to face a strong Correista bloc in congress.
“For years, I have dreamed of the possibility of serving Ecuadorians so that the country progresses, so that we can all live better,” Lasso told supporters in the port city of Guayaquil. “Today, you have resolved that this be so.”