An exit poll by Cedatos pollster estimated Moreno received some 39.4 percent of valid votes versus around 30.5 percent for Lasso. Its margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Supporters in Quito waved Ecuadorean flags as well as green ones proclaiming “Lenin” next to Moreno’s face however Lasso expressed confidence he would make it to a second round.
“We will present ourselves to the Ecuadorean people once again… once the truth we know in Ecuador, Latin America, and the entire world is confirmed: There’s a second round,”
he said in his hometown of Guayaquil near the Pacific Coast.
Lasso’s campaign have mostly been promising the revival of the economy, depending on exports of oil, flowers and shrimp, by slashing taxes, fostering foreign investment and creating 1 million jobs in four years.
