Former banker Guillermo Lasso has declared victory in the Ecuadorean presidential election, after his challenger, left-wing economist Andres Arauz, conceded defeat .

Guillermo Lasso, 65 years old, received over 52% of the vote to clinch the presidency, his third attempt at running for office. He defeated Andrés Arauz, a 36-year-old leftist economist and protégé of powerful ex-president Rafael Correa. Mr. Arauz conceded with more than 95% of votes counted.

Mr. Lasso will inherit a bruised economy and health crisis as the Covid-19 pandemic rages across South America.

“It’s a day in which all Ecuadoreans have decided their future, they have used their vote to express the need for change and the desire for better days,” Lasso declared at a rally where jubilant supporters chanted “Lasso President!”

“It was unexpected,” she said from the Chilean capital Santiago, noting that Arauz had been the frontrunner for much of the campaign. “His conservative economic policies are not that popular. But Ecuadoreans are going to give this banker and businessman a chance. He’s really going to have his work cut out for him.”z