As Latin America Turns Right, Ecuador's Election Offers The Left An Opportunity To Secure Its Legacy

As Dan Collyns writes in The Guardian, Ecuador's president-elect Lenin Moreno is promising to triple poverty relief, crack down on corruption and ease up on the media. He faces both political and economic hurdles, but the future of the left in Latin America may depend on his ability to deliver on his promises and to distance himself from predecessor, left-wing Rafael Correa, whose legacy remains highly contested. 

During Correa's tenure, material advances contrasted with the rise of divisive politics and reduced press freedom. Corruption is widespread too, and the economic situation will not be kind to the incoming president. 

Social spending doubled during most of Correa's tenure, but to deliver on the promise to expand these policies even further, Moreno elect needs to address declining government revenues — it largely depends on declining oil exports — and the rise of debt servicing costs, The Economist says. 

The failure of the right

Moreno's opponent Guillermo Lasso favored a paradigm shift away from the policies of the ruling party and, capitalizing on anti-Correa sentiment, got 48% of the votes in the runoff. But, while he has denounced the election results and fraud and demanded a recount, his movement may have simply failed to present a viable alternative to Correismo. Indeed, as Franklin Ramírez argues in a New York Times op-ed (Spanish), Lasso's campaign mistook fatigue with Correa himself for voter desire for return to free market policies. "Ecuadorians chose to vote for the candidate who cared more for them, rather than for the one offering more economic opportunities," writes analyst Patricio Navia.