The candidate of Ecuador's ruling Alianza Pais, Lenin Moreno, is favourite to win the next general election ahead of the vote in February 2017, according to a study by Cedatos, which suggests 37 percent of voters would choose Moreno as a replacement for President Rafael Correa.
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Moreno served as Vice-President under President Correa's government from 2007 to 2013 and has since served as Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility at the United Nations, following a shooting in 1998 that left him paralysed.
Hugely popular in his native Ecuador, Moreno was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 by lawmakers in Ecuador's National Assembly for his "Ecuador Sin Barreras" (Ecuador Without Barriers) project, which has transformed governmental policy toward disabled people and helped thousands, including guarantees for job placements and subsidies for carers.
Behind Moreno stands right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso from CREO, who is polling at 20 percent. He is followed by another right-wing candidate, Cynthia Viteri of PSC, who is polling at 10 percent while Paco Moncayo from the National Agreement for Change is polling at 7 percent. Polling in last place is Fuerza Ecuador's Dalo Bucaram at just 3 percent.
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Moreno will run alongside current Vice-President Jorge Glas for the election, which is set to take place on Feb. 19, 2017, and President Correa has expressed certainty that Alianza Pais will win without having to compete in a runoff round, and without hum running for re-election.
The Ecuadorean constitution would have allowed President Correa to run for re-election, but he proposed an amendment to restrict term limits in an effort to calm critics. Even though a referendum could have repealed the law, Correa announced last year that he would not seek a third term.