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With the Left set for victory, Ecuador’s democracy is under attack
The left has sight of victory in the second round of the presidential election but fears persist of intervention to stop it, writes Lee Brown LEE BROWN
Hungry homeless in Quito, Ecuador, last Thursday, queue at a soup kitchen

WHEN Ecuadorians go to the polls to choose their president on  April 11, the choice could not be starker. A young left-wing economist, Andres Arauz, will run off against Guillermo Lasso, the founder of one of Ecuador’s largest banks, arch free-marketeer and a former minister linked to Ecuador’s deepest ever economic crisis. 

Arauz is the clear favourite, with a double-digit poll lead and having topped the first-round vote with a 12 per cent advantage over Lasso.

Ecuador looks set to be the latest Latin American country to elect a left-wing government after Bolivia, Argentina and Mexico in recent years.  

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