Leftist Moncayo has a change of heart, announces he will vote for Lasso

After earlier announcing he would endorse neither Lenin Moreno or Guillermo Lasso in the April 2 presidential runoff election, defeated candidate Paco Moncayo said Tuesday that he will vote for Lasso.

Paco Moncayo

The announcement is a major blow to the Moreno campaign which had hoped to pick up the majority of Moncayo’s first primary support, which amounted to 6.7% of the total vote. A retired general and former supporter of President Rafael Correa, Moncayo was the candidate for the center-leftist Acuerdo Nacional por el Cambio.

“I make the decision with great hesitation since Lasso represents many values that I oppose,” Moncayo said. “At this point he is the lesser of two evils but I believe he is our best hope for recovering democracy in Ecuador.” He said he hoped that Lasso would incorporate some Acuerdo Nacional por el Cambio positions in his campaign.

Although Moncayo said he had great personal respect for Moreno, he feared that the candidate would serve only as a proxy for Correa, which he called unacceptable. “The only way to escape the totalitarian trap that Correa has led us into, is to vote against Alianza País. I cannot accept the Sandinista-Chavista-Corrista model of governing. It is time for a change and Guillermo Lasso is the only alternative.”

Moncayo said he would not actively campaign for Lasso.