Guillermo Lasso takes oath as first right-wing President of Ecuador

Guillermo Lasso on May 24, 2021, assumed the office of the President of Ecuador, thereby becoming the country’s first right-wing president in 14 years.

CREO right-wing Guillermo Lasso had won Ecuador’s Presidential Elections 2021 with over 52 per cent of votes against Andres Arauz.

65-year-old Guillermo Lasso was sworn in the office by Guadalupe Llori, the President of the National Assembly. Spain’s King Felipe VI, Dominican Republic’s Luis Abinader, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, and Haiti’s Jovenel Moise were among the foreign dignitaries to attend Lasso’s inauguration.

Lasso will take over Ecuador at a time when the country is battling health and economic crisis. Lasso’s first challenge will be to revive the economy of Ecuador that has contracted by 7.8 per cent in 2020 and tackle the country’s overall debt that stands at 63 per cent of GDP.

Simon Cueva, a former employee of the International Monetary Fund has been named as the Economy and Finance Minister. Lasso also said that he looks forward to joining the Pacific Alliance trade bloc along with Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Mexico at the earliest.

Pollsters Cedatos showed an approval rating of 60 per cent at the beginning of his term as President of Ecuador. Lasso won by five percentage points over Andres Arauz. Previously, Lasso had lost election campaigns in 2013 and 2017.

Who is Guillermo Lasso?

•Guillermo Lasso, an Ecuadorian politician and a former banker is now the 47^th President of Ecuador. He became the country’s first right-wing president in 14 years after he assumed the presidency on May 24, 2021.

•Lasso became the Governor of Guayas, Ecuador in 1998. Later, Lasso was named as the Ecuadorian Itinerant Ambassador in 2003.

•Lasso was a presidential candidate in the 2013 and 2017 Presidential elections but could not win.