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| - Ecuadorans head to the polls on Sunday with a simple choice to make: voting for the left or the right. Bidding to succeed Lenin Moreno as president are socialist young economist Andres Arauz and Catholic former banker Guillermo Lasso. AFP takes a look at the two candidates battling for the hearts and minds of Ecuador's voters. Former Central Bank boss Arauz, 36, is the protege of leftist ex-president Rafael Correa, whose political influence remains strong in Ecuador despite a corruption conviction that disqualified him from running as Arauz's deputy. Arauz is utterly unlike his temperamental and charismatic mentor, though. Announcing his candidacy on Twitter last August, Arauz introduced himself as "'the perfect stranger' who knows and loves Ecuador and is committing himself to bringing our people out of the health and economic crisis." Once a minister in Correa's cabinet, Arauz defines himself as a patriot, a democrat and progressive, and describes Moreno as a traitor to the socialist cause. He's already vowed if elected to ensure those responsible for Ecuador's "negligence in handling the pandemic" will face justice, something many take as a veiled threat to Moreno. While his strong showing in the first round of voting -- he polled 12 percentage points more than Lasso -- was in large part due to his links to Correa, he is torn between loyalty to his mentor and a desire to shake off accusations he's merely a puppet. Correa, convicted of graft charges that he claims were political persecution under Moreno, is in Belgium avoiding an eight-year jail term. If elected, Arauz could pardon Correa or seek a judicial review of the case against him. But that's as far as he's willing to go, telling AFP that "from May 24, it will be me governing Ecuador." The presidential hopeful speaks English, French and Russian, and he plays the piano and accordion. He is married and has a son. It's the second election in a row in which former banker Lasso has reached a second round run-off against a leftist candidate. In 2017 he was narrowly edged out by Moreno while four years before that he finished a distant second in the first round as Correa romped to a landslide victory. Now aged 65, he is hoping for a case of third time lucky, but he has to make up a 12 percentage point deficit to Arauz from the first round. He has realized, though, that he needs to exploit the polarization that Correa elicits. After reaching the run-off, Lasso vowed to "listen to the different sectors of Ecuadoran society, especially those that initially weren't included" in his manifesto. He's already spoken about "extending a hand" to the country's indigenous population, who make up seven percent of the population, and the "necessity for a rural agenda" in a bid to win over those who voted for indigenous socialist leader Yaku Perez in the first round. Like Lasso, Perez is a staunch Correa foe. Correa has even dismissed both Perez's claim to be a socialist and his indigenous heritage. A married father of five, Lasso was the youngest of 11 children from a middle-class family. He started working at 15 and rose to become president of the Bank of Guayaquil, his home city, despite never finishing his economics degree. Lasso turned full-time to politics in 2012, serving as governor of the province of Guayas and as minister of the economy. He describes himself as "tolerant" and "democratic." He has vowed to boost foreign investment in Ecuador, cut taxes and create a million jobs. bur/bc/acb
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