FACTBOX-Leftist and banker fight for Ecuador presidency
QUITO, March 30 Ecuadoreans will vote on Sunday to chose whether business-friendly former bank boss Guillermo Lasso or leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno take the reins of the oil-rich Andean nation.
Here are some facts about the two candidates:
LENIN MORENO:
* Born in Nuevo Rocafuerte, in the Ecuadorean Amazon, in 1953.
* Studied public administration at Ecuador's Central University.
* Lost mobility in his legs after being shot during a robbery in 1998 while buying bread with his wife. After a difficult recovery, became a motivational speaker and wrote self-help books focused on humor as therapy.
* Was outgoing leftist President Rafael Correa's vice president from 2007 to 2013.
* Moved to Geneva, Switzerland, to become the United Nations' special envoy on disability in 2013.
* Promises to bolster social welfare in oil-rich Ecuador, with benefits for the disabled, single mothers, youth, and the elderly.
* Soft-spoken and prone to singing during campaign events, Moreno has a more conciliatory style than mercurial president Rafael Correa.
* Married and has three daughters.
GUILLERMO LASSO:
* Born in Ecuador's commercial hub of Guayaquil by the Pacific Ocean in 1955. He is the youngest of 11 children from a middle class family.
* Studied economics at Quito's Catholic University although he never graduated.
* Began working at Guayaquil's stock market at age 15, and rose up from there to get a position at a financial institution that later merged with Banco de Guayaquil.
* Was executive president of Banco de Guayaquil from 1994 to 2012.
* Ran for president in 2013, when he lost by a huge margin against outgoing leftist president Rafael Correa.
* Proposes to slash taxes, boost foreign investment, and stimulate job creation in the OPEC member nation.
* Married and has five children.
(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer and Alexandra Valencia; Editing by Alistair Bell)