Ecuador presidential campaign enters final stretch

The conservative candidate in the Ecuadorean run-off elections, Guillermo Lasso, closed his campaign on Wednesday in Cayambe, ahead of the vote on April 11.

In Cayambe, a province of a majority of indigenous population, Lasso hoped to turn voters that could give him a victory over the leftist candidate Andres Arauz.

Lasso and Arauz finished as the leading candidates on the first run of the elections on February 7, with Arauz seen as the candidate of former president Rafael Correa.

Lasso, a former banker, has presented himself as a change of a decade of governments associated with Correa.

Both candidates intend to convince the almost 29% of voters who, until last week, remained undecided and who could define the new ruler.

The leftist faction that has won the past four general elections is the clear favorite on the ballot.

However, Arauz barely managed to get about 33% of the votes in the election's first-round Feb. 7.

Lasso, who lost the last two presidential contests, emerged with a little under 20% of the votes in the first round, giving him a perilously fragile edge to get to claim victory on the runoff ballot.

Nearly 13.1 million Ecuadorians have been called to vote in Sunday's elections when a new president will be elected to replace current Moreno for a four-year term.