Ecuador's Leftist Presidential Candidate Shows 14-Point Lead

Leftist Presidential candidate Andres Arauz is highly favored, showing a 13.6% lead with less than two months to go for Ecuador's presidential election. The Latin American Strategic Center for Geopolitics (CELAG) released its latest survey on Ecuador's political-electoral situation on Friday, based on 3,000 face-to-face interviews conducted throughout the country.

RELATED:

Ecuador: Arauz Denounces "Coup Against Democracy" in Progress

Andrés Arauz leads the electoral preferences with 36.5% of voting intention, followed by businessman Álvaro Noboa (22.9%), Yaku Pérez, the candidate of Packakutik (21.2%) and the banker from Guayaquil, Guillermo Lasso (13.6%). Ximena Peña, candidate for the list backed by current President Lenín Moreno, has a voting intention of 1.2%. The other candidates who will participate in the contest do not exceed 1.5% of the preferences.

Righ-wing Guillermo Lasso came in a close second in the 2017 presdiential election and led claims of fraud against the Alianza PAIS candidate at the time Lenin Moreno, who came to the presidency in a second round vote.

The study, coordinated by Gisela Brito from CELAG's Public Opinion Area, highlights citizen perception of the political and economic situation and their electoral preferences going into the 2021 presidential election. The fieldwork was carried out between November 25 and December 13, in 40 localities in 19 provinces of the country. 

When asked about the goals to be achieved in the near future, 45% of respondents mentioned the aspiration of being able to cancel their debts as the first or second option. This data shows the impact that the economic crisis is having on the country and is related to the level of debt of the population surveyed by CELAG in July 2020, when 48% said they had had to resort to loans to be able to pay their expenses.

In this context, 54% consider that the cost of access to the internet, a basic service during the pandemic, is excessive, and 71% state that in order to face the crisis it is necessary for those with greater resources to contribute in greater proportion.

When asked about the global evaluation of the previous government's management, 47% considered that Rafael Correa's management as President of Ecuador was good, 35% considered it regular and 14% bad. Earlier this year, Correa was barred from running in this election for what he and allies say were politically motivated reasons. He and the Citizens' Revolution have since thrown their support behind the Arauz-Rabascall ticket.

The country has seen waves of protest in recent months, against the neoliberal government, under whose mandate unemployment has skyrocketted.