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The Latest: An exit poll shows Lasso ahead in Ecuador

Guillermo Lasso, presidential candidate for the CREO political party greets the press before he casts his ballot during presidential election in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/ Jose Sanchez). Guillermo Lasso, presidential candidate for the CREO political party greets the press before he casts his ballot during presidential election in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/ Jose Sanchez).

By Associated Press April 2, 2017 1 min read

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) – The Latest on Ecuador’s presidential election (all times local):

5 p.m.

An exit poll shows opposition candidate Guillermo Lasso winning Ecuador’s presidential runoff by a slim margin.

Cedatos, which accurately predicted the results of the first-round results in February, said in a survey published after polls closed Lasso won 53 percent to 47 percent for Lenin Moreno. The exit poll had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.

Another exit poll showed Moreno winning 52 percent to 48 percent.

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3 p.m.

Ecuador’s presidential vote is expected to be a close race that could either further tilt Latin America toward the right after several conservative election victories or reinforce President Rafael Correa’s “Citizens’ Revolution.”

Polls leading up to Sunday’s contest have shown a neck-and-neck vote between Correa’s hand-picked successor Lenin Moreno and conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso.

Correa has urged voters to pick the candidate who will continue his policies in support of the poor. The opposition candidate is promising to deliver a well-needed jolt to the nation’s beleaguered economy.