RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With more than 97% of the votes officially counted, conservative CREO candidate Guillermo Lasso obtained 52.5% of the votes, against 47.4% for the left-wing candidate Andres Arauz, and was elected President of Ecuador.
“We are doing it together! Thank you, Ecuador, for showing your support at the polls. We will wait for the official results. #JuntosLoEstamosLogrando” tweeted Lasso when the official data began to be published.
Lasso made a spectacular comeback in the race after losing in the February 7 first round election, when he obtained only 19.74% of the votes.
Victory seems guaranteed at this point, given that the votes still to be counted – those from abroad and small percentages in some provinces, in addition to the ballots with incidents – do not seem to be enough to overturn the partial result.
The difference in votes between both candidates is about 420,000. In any case, Lasso’s followers have come out to celebrate in front of the National Electoral Council’s headquarters (CNE) in Quito and in the province of Guayas, where he has a large part of his political strength.
In the province of Samborondón, in Guayaquil, dozens of sympathizers gathered with blue and white flags of the CREO movement and those of Ecuador in an anticipated celebration based on the partial results of the CNE.
Meanwhile, in the places where Arauz’s followers were gathered, in Quito, people gradually withdrew, and the headquarters of the movement remained empty.
According to the CNE, the voter turnout was high as 10,184,500 people voted, while 2,097,502 were absent for different reasons. In total, the number of blank votes was 163,336 and void votes 1,654,764.
The first to congratulate Lasso was the Uruguayan President, Luis Lacalle Pou: “I have just spoken with him to congratulate him on his victory and to start working together on the issues that our countries have in common.”
The President of Colombia also made a statement. “We congratulate Guillermo on his election as President of Ecuador. A few minutes ago, we spoke and talked about working together for the region; We will continue strengthening our trade, security, and Andean integration relations for the benefit of our countries,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
Who is Guillermo Lasso, and what did he promise to do?
The 65-year-old former banker from Guayaquil started working at the age of 15 when his father could no longer pay for his studies. Later he was for a period of 20 years president of Banco de Guayaquil, one of the most important banks in the country. He studied in a famous Catholic school in Guayaquil, San José La Salle, where former presidents Otto Arosemena, Alfredo Palacio, and Rafael Correa were educated.
The president-elect started in politics at the age of 43.
For the second round, Lasso incorporated into his campaign issues related to labor and gender equity, defense of nature and animals, fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Source: infobae