Former VP Moreno signals he may consider a presidential run to succeed Correa

Following months of indecision, former Vice President Lenin Moreno says he is considering running for president in the January 2017 national elections. He would only run, he says, as the candidate of Alianza Pais (AP), the party of President Rafael Correa.

Former Vice President Lenin Moreno

Earlier, Moreno, who is considered the most electable of possible Pais candidates, was noncommittal on joining the race.

Moreno served as vice president under Correa from 2007 until 2012 and is currently Special Envoy to the Secretary General of the UN for the Rights of the Disabled. Since a gun-shot injury 16 years ago confined him to a wheelchair, Moreno had devoted much of his energy to fighting for the rights of the handicapped.

Moreno’s possible willingness to join the presidential contest was partly spurred by concerns among AP supporters that current Vice President Jorge Glas is unelectable. A recent Cedatos – Gallup poll shows Glas being soundly beaten in a head-to-head contest with Guayaquil banker Guillermo Lasso. Correa defeated Lasso and others in the 2013 election.

A recent controversy erupted within AP when some party members said AP would lose the presidency if Glas became the party’s candidate.

Moreno pledged his support to the AP Citizens’ Revolution and said he would not consider running as a candidate of another party.

“I am fully behind Pais’s efforts to restore rights and authority to those in Ecuador who have been forgotten and pushed to the margins,” Moreno said in a letter. “If I decide to run for office, this will be the reason why.”