Ecuador shuns socialism with Lasso's surprise election

Ecuadorean banker Guillermo Lasso and his wife Maria de Lourdes Alcivar react after Lasso wins the presidential runoff vote, in Guayaquil, Ecuador April 11, 2021. REUTERS/Maria Fernanda Landin

(Reuters) - Ecuadorean banker Guillermo Lasso unexpectedly won the nation's presidency on promises to revive an economy battered by coronavirus as his rival's vows of a return to socialist largesse failed to win over a skeptical electorate.

Lasso took 52% of the vote in the runoff following a campaign that pitted free market economics against the social welfare plans of economist Andres Arauz, a win likely helped by a ballot spoiling campaign that left one in six ballots void.