Who Is Lenin Moreno? Ecuador’s Ruling Party Presidential Candidate Leads In Election, But Runoff Likely

Ecuador’s ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno is leading the presidential election in the opening round of the voting Sunday. However, he is unlikely to gain majority and is expected to have a runoff against his nearest rival right-winger Guillermo Lasso whose campaign promises include the eviction of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

With 78.4 percent of the votes counted, Moreno led with 38.83 percent against Lasso’s 28.63 percent. In order to avoid the March runoff, 63-year-old Moreno of the ruling left-wing Alianza País coalition requires a majority of the total vote, or 40 percent votes and a 10-point lead over his nearest rival.

Moreno, who is predicted to win the election, has been an important figure in the incumbent President Rafael Correa's cabinet between 2007 and 2013. Rafael decided not to run for the presidential election after leading the South American nation for a decade.

Correa was able to reduce Ecuador’s poverty rate from almost 40 percent to less than 23 percent last year. The country has been affected by the declining price of oil, its No. 1 export, and its economy went down by 2 percent last year, with the International Monetary Fund predicting a similar downturn in 2017.

After the results of round one, Correa and Vice President Jorge Glas cheered for Moreno, who told his rival to “lose with dignity” while he would “win with humility.”

Weeks prior to the election, corruption allegations against the vice president surfaced. Earlier this month, a leaked video widely shared on social media showed a former petroleum minister of the country accusing Glas of taking some of the $12 million in bribes paid to state-run Petroecuador for construction of a refinery. Glas has denied any wrongdoing.

"We've shown that by campaigning honorably you can win elections," Moreno told supporters after the partial results were released, according to the Associated Press. "We've had to endure terrible attacks that can't be justified just because of the heat of an election."

Moreno’s rival Lasso promised to reduce taxes, boost employment, limit government spending and remove whistleblower Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He is reported to reach out to the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund for loans and investment.

Other candidates in the presidential election are Cynthia Viteri, a former lawyer and congresswoman from the conservative Social Christian Party, and 76-year-old former Quito Mayor Paco Moncayo.

This election is also the first time when transgender people could vote according to their chosen sex, instead of the one they were born with.