With a historic comeback, Lasso defeated Correa's dolphin and is the new president of Ecuador

CARACAS.- Conservative candidate Guillermo Lasso starred in a historic comeback in Ecuador, which will surprisingly take him to the Carondelet presidential palace, which he had already cherished in 2017 after being defeated by just over two points against to Lenin Moreno.

After 97% of the votes were counted, the standard-bearer of the CREO Movement and the Christian Social Party (PSC) obtained 52.5% of the votes, compared to 47.4% for his rival, the correísta Andrés Arauz.

“This is a historic day, a day in which all Ecuadorians have decided their future, have expressed with their vote the need for change and the desire for better days for all,” Lasso said tonight after the results were known and he immediately thanked God and his parents, to whom he will deposit an offering tomorrow at his grave, he anticipated.

“I want to thank the Ecuadorians who have given me their trust, who have come out to vote with a democratic spirit and have done so in peace, who have given a very clear and forceful message: 'Ecuadorians believe in democracy, we believe in freedom'”, he added as part of his victory speech, to the song of “Lasso presidente”.

For his part, Arauz admitted defeat. "I will congratulate you on the electoral victory obtained today and I will show you our democratic convictions," he said in a speech at his campaign center in Quito.

An unimaginable setback for the man chosen by former President Rafael Correa to return to his country through the front door from his exile in Belgium, his first electoral confrontation since 2007. And a complete defeat for the Puebla Group and its allies closest to Correa, both Evo Morales and Nicolás Maduro. All of them openly bet on Arauz in their attempt to expand the so-called Patria Grande.

In the end, Ecuador's weariness in the face of the abuses and corruption of the citizen revolution, the militant anticorreismo, had a definitive influence on the result. The hidden vote that the Union for Hope (UNES) expected was really a vote of punishment.

President Moreno's decision not to interfere in the process to favor Lasso was also decisive: the president who rebelled against Correa will say goodbye to the presidency with one of the highest disapproval ratings in history.

“Lasso scored more than 30 points in this second round. He had an almost perfect campaign, ”analyst Matías Abad highlighted for LA NACIÓN. From 19.74% in the first round to close to 53% in the second round, almost unprecedented figures on the continent.

Nobody gave a dollar for Guillermo Lasso, 65, at the end of the first round. Beaten, aged, physically broken and even questioned by his followers before the push of his rivals. The conservative candidate, in his third presidential election, went to the ballot by a meager 32,115 votes, but in truth he seemed like a defeated politician.

Everything began to change with the confrontation with the indigenous Yaku Pérez inside the National Electoral Council (CNE). Lasso vindicated himself and began to teach what his message was for the comeback: the national reunion. As if he were a phoenix, he broadened his political agenda without being conditioned by his ideology and his membership of Opus Dei until he gained the support of Xavier Hervás, the Democratic Left candidate, and Yaku Pérez's running mate.

Her social media team was able to seduce younger voters with unusual audacity, to the beat of Michael Jackson's Bad Boy and red shoes that symbolize a campaign that intelligently toured the national territory.

“He correctly executed a strategy to broaden his voter base, especially young people who also became his main campaign operators. In a spontaneous and creative way”, added Abad, who also underlined “incisive blows that cornered his adversary”.

For the history of the electoral strategy will remain the presidential debate where Lasso coined a slogan (“Andrés do not lie again”), which ended up becoming a popular mantra.

Another key factor was the indigenous vote. "It seems that voters in the central highlands (who opted for Yaku in February) opted for Lasso instead of voting null or blank," reveals analyst John Polga-Hecimovich.

Congratulations began to pour in from outside the country. "I just spoke with Guillermo Lasso to congratulate him on his victory, which is very important for Ecuador and for the region," announced former Argentine President Mauricio Macri.

“I just spoke with Lasso to congratulate him on his victory and to get to work together on issues that our countries have in common,” Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou said through his social networks.

Lasso's comeback provoked an immediate reaction from Correa, the main loser of the night. The jaguar of Latin America, as he identified himself, could not roar with the force that he announced. Despite this, supported by friendly media and international allies, he denounced an alleged fraud without providing a single piece of evidence and with the connivance of the Puebla Group envoys. Dragged by the same strategy, Arauz sang a victory as soon as the count began, which the data showed minutes later to be false. "This is a victory for the Ecuadorian people, I ask our delegates to remain vigilant to take care of each of our votes," he declared without much enthusiasm.

“Lasso was skillful in not letting Arauz distance himself from his past in the Correa government and in keeping his presence alive in the campaign. Without Correa, Arauz didn't make it to the second round, but with Correa by your side you don't grow beyond your ceiling. Correa has a lot of resistance and it was possible to transfer the story to an election Correa against AntiCorrea ”, Abad sentence for LA NACIÓN.

Faced with the desperation of his rivals, the former banker from Guayaquil remained silent during the first hours of the scrutiny until he decided to uncork the bottles of champagne with his family and his team of collaborators, the main people responsible for the comeback experienced.

The next challenge for Lasso will also be full of obstacles: translating the support received during the campaign into a government that lives with a fragmented Parliament, without majorities and with disparate interests. And with a monster in front of it, like the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, which has already killed more than 17,000 people in Ecuador. Vaccination will be the first litmus test for the president.

The platform of the president-elect in the National Assembly has 30 deputies, 18 from the PSC and 12 from CREO. In front of the official bench stands correísmo, with 49 of the 137 seats. And between the two is the alliance that is being forged between the Democratic Left (18), whose standard-bearer, Xavier Hervás, has opted for Lasso in the ballot; and Pachakutik (27), who obtained historical support but is experiencing an internal war between those who opt for a null vote or for support for the two presidential candidates.

“Beyond the left-right divide, these elections were also a kind of referendum on populism and the legacies of its most important populist leaders of the last 30 years,” said Polga-Hecimovich, a professor of comparative politics.