But he was also seen as a combative bully, and his reputation was tarnished by bribery charges on which he was found guilty in absentia while in Belgium, where he now lives. Perez ran in the first round vote in February and narrowly lost out to Lasso for a runoff slot, which he attributed to electoral fraud, while not presenting evidence. He also told reporters he was wary of oil drilling in the Yasuni national park in Ecuador's Amazon region, and said he supported an audit to determine the costs of environmental remediation to "determine if extraction from those oil wells is really profitable." "(Arauz's) candidacy did not manage to create its own profile or create distance from Correa, because he knew he would lose Correa's hard line supporters," said political analyst Julio Echeverria. "It was an error in all of Arauz's campaign with respect to that underlying ambiguity."
Perez ran ahead of Lasso in the initial round of president of the vote.
( z0 run :ARG0 ( z1 person :name ( z2 name :op "Perez" ) ) :manner ( z3 ahead :op ( z4 person :name ( z5 name :op "Lasso" ) ) ) :time ( z6 round :ARG2 ( z7 president :ARG2-of ( z8 have-org-role :ARG2-of ( z9 vote ) ) ) :mod ( z10 initial ) ) )
(z0 / run-02
    :ARG0 (z1 / person
              :name (z2 / name
                        :op1 "Perez"))
    :manner (z3 / ahead
                :op1 (z4 / person
                         :name (z5 / name
                                   :op1 "Lasso")))
    :time (z6 / round-05
              :ARG2 (z7 / president
                        :ARG2-of (z8 / have-org-role-91
                                     :ARG2-of (z9 / vote-01)))
              :mod (z10 / initial)))
Perez ran ahead of Lasso in the initial round of president of the vote .
z1 :name z2
z2 :op1 1
z0 :ARG0 z1
z0 :manner z3
z3 :op1 z4
z4 :name z5
z5 :op1 0
z6 :mod z10
z0 :time z6
z6 :ARG2 z7
z7 :ARG2-of z8
z8 :ARG2-of z9