Ecuador choosing new president in highly contentious runoff vote

World Today

Ecuador Presidential ElectionA woman casts her ballot during a presidential runoff election, in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Ecuadorans have voted for a new leader in a highly contested presidential election. The runoff vote pitched Lenin Moreno, the hand-picked successor of outgoing leftist president Rafael Correa, against Guillermo Lasso, a right-wing former bank boss.

CGTN’s Dan Collyns reports from Quito.

Almost 13 million Ecuadorans voted for the successor to President Rafael Correa, the country’s longest-standing democratically elected leader. They had to choose between leftist former vice president Lenin Moreno and right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso.

Ecuador votes again and this time it’s just two candidates, one who promises more of the same with modifications and the other who pledges radical change and a move to the more business-friendly right. Analysts see the vote as the latest test of the Latin American left, which has seen its power fade in several countries in the region.

But after ten years in office, outgoing President Rafael Correa is a hard act to follow. Ecuador’s next president will take office in May.


Joseph Humire discusses Ecuador’s presidential runoff election

Joseph Humire with the Center for a Free Society joined CGTN’s Susan Roberts to discuss the implications of Ecuador’s presidential runoff election.