https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/08/30/what-s-at-stake-in-ecuador-s-presidential-runoff-pub-90460
In August, Ecuador’s presidential election captured international headlines after the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, just eleven days ahead of the first-round vote. The attack reflects a deepening security crisis in what was once one of South America’s safest countries but where transnational criminal groups exert increasing control. Due to the worsening security situation and the threat it poses to democracy across Latin America, Ecuador’s runoff on October 15 is highly relevant for both the country and the region as a whole.
In May, beleaguered conservative President Guillermo Lasso invoked an unprecedented constitutional mechanism—the so-called crossed death—that triggered presidential and congressional elections on August 20. The past year of Lasso’s tenure saw mass protest, economic stagnation, low approval ratings, and corruption allegations—alongside his near-certain impeachment, which he avoided by calling early elections. Both Lasso’s successor and the elected legislators will serve out the current term, and new elections will be held in early 2025. But the runoff remains a tossup.
The left-wing candidate and lawmaker Luisa González—protégé of former president Rafael Correa, who governed from 2007 to 2017 and who was convicted of corruption charges in absentia in 2020 and is now..
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