{"id":118099,"date":"2021-04-10T13:11:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T05:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=118099"},"modified":"2021-04-10T13:11:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T05:11:42","slug":"ecuador-to-choose-between-socialism-and-free-markets-in-sunday-presidential-runoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=118099","title":{"rendered":"Ecuador to choose between socialism and free markets in Sunday presidential runoff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/dims4\/USNEWS\/c7f7855\/2147483647\/thumbnail\/640x420\/quality\/85\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.beam.usnews.com%2F1d%2F1bee6fbfd1245078d758dcb18a355a%2Ftag%3Areuters.com%2C2021%3Anewsml_LYNXMPEH371D6%3A12021-04-08T191836Z_1_LYNXMPEH371D6_RTROPTP_3_ECUADOR-ELECTION-LASSO.JPG\" alt=\"Reuters\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">Ecuador&#8217;s presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>QUITO, April 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Ecuadoreans on Sunday will choose between a conservative banker and a left-wing economist in a presidential runoff that follows months of debate over whether the country\u2019s economic malaise can be best treated through socialism or market-friendly policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Polls broadly indicate socialist Andres Arauz, a protege of former President Rafael Correa, with a lead over rival Guillermo Lasso, with many showing a quarter or more of the electorate either undecided or planning to spoil their ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A victory for Arauz would further consolidate a string of leftist electoral victories in South America in the last year, while a win for Lasso would leave Ecuador in the political and commercial orbit of the United States as he seeks to create jobs through foreign investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Investors are closely watching the outcome because Arauz has promised to renegotiate the terms of a financing deal with the International Monetary Fund and to vastly expand social welfare spending despite precarious state finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arauz, 36, won the first electoral round with the 32.7% of the vote thanks to promises to reverse austerity measures and deliver $1,000 to a million poor families &#8211; a promise he has downplayed during the runoff vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lasso maintains a pro-market platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the first round, Lasso has sought to soften his conservative image by offering to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation and even to support a referendum halting oil exploration in the ecologically sensitive Yasuni rainforest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indigenous candidate Yaku Perez, who narrowly lost a spot in the runoff, has denounced voter fraud and is calling on supporters to spoil their ballots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>President Lenin Moreno, a former Correa ally, is not seeking a second term. The new president will take office on May 24 for a period of four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic have left a third of the population in poverty and some 500,000 workers without stable employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreno enacted spending cuts and painful austerity measures in conjunction with a $6.5 billion IMF financing deal, but was unable to revive the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just over 13 million Ecuadoreans registered to participate in the election, which will include biosecurity measures in response to the pandemic. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ecuador&#8217;s presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso QUITO, April 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Ecuadoreans on Sunday will choose between a conservative banker and a left-wing economist in a presidential runoff that follows months of debate over whether the country\u2019s economic malaise can be best treated through socialism or market-friendly policies. Polls broadly indicate socialist Andres Arauz, a protege [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":118100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118099"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/118100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}